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

As peace is the end of war, so to be idle is the ultimate purpose of the busy.

What is easy is seldom excellent.

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

Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.

The two offices of memory are collection and distribution.

The ear is the avenue to the heart.

We must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy.

In the scenery of spring, nothing is better, nothing worse; the flowering branches are; some long, some short.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

It is a curious sensation: the sort of pain that goes mercifully beyond our powers of feeling. When your heart is broken, your boats are burned: nothing matters any more. It is the end of happiness and the beginning of peace.

Sir, a man may be so much of everything, that he is nothing of anything.

Every being is in search of truth, but small fears go on preventing you.

I found you essay to be good and original. However, the part that was original was not good and the part that was good was not original.

Injustice in the end produces independence.

There is nothing capricious in nature and the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feel it.

Oh man! There is no planet sun or star could hold you, if you but knew what you are.

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.

Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion.

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

We do not quite forgive a giver. The hand that feeds us is in some danger of being bitten.