Samuel Johnson

No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it. There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that will keep us safe under every form of government.

The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and art are ransacked for illustrations, comparisons, and allusions; their learning instructs, and their subtlety surprises; but the reader commonly thinks his improvement dearly bought and, though he sometimes admires, is seldom pleased.

A wicked fellow is the most pious when he takes to it. He’ll beat you all at piety.

To get a name can happen but to few; it is one of the few things that cannot be brought. It is the free gift of mankind, which must be deserved before it will be granted, and is at last unwillingly bestowed.

If pleasure was not followed by pain, who would forbear it?

Words are but the signs of ideas.

A jest often decides matters of importance more effectual and happily than seriousness.

How hard you work matters more than how much you make.

Loyalty is still the same, whether it win or lose the game; true as a dial to the sun, although it be not shined upon.

There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.

The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are brief and pithy. Collect and learn them; they are notable measures of directions for human life; you have much in little; they save time in speaking; and upon occasion may be the fullest and safest answer.

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

We learned about dignity and decency – that how hard you work matters more than how much you make… that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.

France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.

Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

The joy in life is to be used for a purpose. I want to be used up when I die.

Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts … good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt. They’re not painful. That’s not just with somebody you want to marry, but it’s with the friends that you choose. It’s with the people you surround yourselves with.

Remember, no human condition is ever permanent. Then you will not be overjoyed in good fortune nor too scornful in misfortune.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted… but to weigh and consider.

I pay the schoolmaster, but it is the school boys who educate my son.

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.