Samuel Johnson

Fear is implanted in us as a preservative from evil; but its duty, like that of other passions, is not to overbear reason, but to assist it. It should not be suffered to tyrannize

Every other enjoyment malice may destroy; every other panegyric envy may withhold; but no human power can deprive the boaster of his own encomiums.

It is better that some should be unhappy than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

I would advise you Sir, to study algebra, if you are not already an adept in it: your head would be less muddy, and you will leave off tormenting your neighbors about paper and packthread, while we all live together in a world that is bursting with sin and sorrow.

He is no wise man who will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.

There is a tendency for things to right themselves.

In order to fully realize how bad a popular play can be, it is necessary to see it twice.

Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere.

All generalizations are false, including this one.

Poor fellow! I think he is in love with you.’ I am not aware of it. And to me it is one of the most odious things in a girl’s life, that there must always be some supposition of falling in love coming between her and any man who is kind to her… I have no ground for the nonsensical vanity of fancying everybody who comes near me is in love with me.

In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.

Always do what you are afraid to do.

Does he council you better who bids you, Money, by right means, if you can: but by any means, make money?

If a man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics.

The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

Rebellions of the belly are the worst.

Conversation enriches the understanding; but solitude is the school of genius.

One farmer says to me, ‘You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with;’ and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying his system with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle.

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

There is no love sincerer than the love of food.