Samuel Johnson

Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.

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

Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.

In traveling, a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.

It is the great privilege of poverty to be happy and yet unenvied, to be healthy with physic, secure without a guard, and to obtain from the bounty of nature what the great and wealthy are compelled to procure by the help of art.

Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in full confidence both of my love and my esteem; I love you as a kind man, I value you as a worthy man, and hope in time to reverence you as a man of exemplary piety.

There is in the act of preparing, the moment you start caring.

The seven deadly sins… food, clothing, firing, rent, taxes, respectability and children. Nothing can lift those seven millstones from Man’s neck but money; and the spirit cannot soar until the millstones are lifted.

Hunger is never delicate; they who are seldom gorged to the full with praise may be safely fed with gross compliments, for the appetite must be satisfied before it is disgusted.

The advice that is wanted is commonly not welcome and that which is not wanted, evidently an effrontery.

Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame.

Wear none of thine own Chains; but keep free, whilst thou art free.

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.

The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.

When the desire ain’t on me I don’t need help. When it is on me I don’t want any. See? Like the old fellah that never mended his roof. Said on a wet day he couldn’t do it and on a dry day it was as good as anybody’s.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.

All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.

Have good trust in yourself … not in the One that you think you should be, but in the One that you are.

I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.