Samuel Johnson

Nothing is more hopeless than a scheme of merriment.

Treating your adversary with respect is striking soft in battle.

The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered but a general effect of pleasing impression.

There are charms made only for distance admiration.

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.

Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.

It requires nothing less than a chivalric feeling to sustain a conversation with a lady.

I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.

Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions.

It is not true that people are naturally equal for no two people can be together for even a half an hour without one acquiring an evident superiority over the other.

The Jews generally give value. They make you pay; but they deliver the goods. In my experience the men who want something for nothing are invariably Christians.

Why should we take advice on sex from the pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn’t!

Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive.

You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.

Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God.

If men be good, government cannot be bad.

We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies.

Houses are built to live in, and not to look on: therefore let use be preferred before uniformity.

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.

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