Samuel Johnson

Language is the dress of thought.

Composition is, for the most part, an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverance, to which the mind is dragged by necessity or resolution, and from which the attention is every moment starting to more delightful amusements.

All the arguments which are brought to represent poverty as no evil show it evidently to be a great evil.

A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything.

Revenge is the act of passion, vengeance is an act of justice.

There are charms made only for distance admiration.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

A sect or party is an incognito devised to save man from the vexation of thinking.

Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.

The way of fortune is like the milkyway in the sky; which is a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together: so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate.

We acquire the strength we have overcome.

The only living works are those which have drained much of the author’s own life into them.

All conservatives are such from personal defects. They have been effeminated by position or nature, born halt and blind, through luxury of their parents, and can only, like invalids, act on the defensive.

Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.

The right merchant is one who has the just average of faculties we call common sense; a man of a strong affinity for facts, who makes up his decision on what he has seen. He is thoroughly persuaded of the truths of arithmetic. There is always a reason, in the man, for his good or bad fortune in making money. Men talk as if there were some magic about this. He knows that all goes on the old road, pound for pound, cent for cent – for every effect a perfect cause – and that good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.

He who has never hoped can never despair.

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.

Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret.

Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day.

I am the captain of my soul.