Samuel Johnson

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

The mind is refrigerated by interruption; the thoughts are diverted from the principal subject; the reader is weary, he suspects not why; and at last throws away the book, which he has too diligently studied.

It was his peculiar happiness that he scarcely ever found a stranger whom he did not leave a friend; but it must likewise be added, that he had not often a friend long without obliging him to become a stranger.

That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.

Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you most.

It is the only sensual pleasure without vice.

The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.

A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.

Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old.

Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.

Virtue knows that it is impossible to get on without compromise, and tunes herself, as it were, a trifle sharp to allow for an inevitable fall in playing.

Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.

If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.

Let us then try what love can do to mend a broken world.

The giving of love is an education in itself.

The secret source of humor is not joy but sorrow; there is no humor in Heaven.

Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. Many will read the book before one thinks of quoting a passage. As soon as he has done this, that line will be quoted east and west.

Old age is the most unexpected of all the things that can happen to a man.

No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.