Samuel Johnson

I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations.

He that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly become corrupt.

No member of society has the right to teach any doctrine contrary to what society holds to be true.

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.

Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse.

As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself, it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep and never to refrain when awake.

Virtue is insufficient temptation.

Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.

The love of economy is the root of all virtue.

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.

Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravity.

The colleges, while they provide us with libraries, furnish no professors of books; and I think no chair is so much needed.

Business is the salt of life.

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.

Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.

Necessity does everything well.

We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.