Samuel Johnson

No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.

Its proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.

When a man says he had pleasure with a woman he does not mean conversation.

No two men can be half an hour together but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other.

The two offices of memory are collection and distribution.

A wicked fellow is the most pious when he takes to it. He’ll beat you all at piety.

The truth knocks on the door and you say, Go away, I’m looking for the truth, and so it goes away. Puzzling.

The bullsh*t is more interesting than the truth.

The truth is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. It sometimes causes us difficulties at home and abroad. It is sometimes used by our enemies in attempts to hurt us. But the American people are entitled to it, nonetheless.

Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth

All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.

There is no such source of error as the pursuit of truth.

Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are economical in its use.

Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.

For truth is precious and divine, too rich a pearl for carnal swine.

It is a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I’m looking for the truth.’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.

It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.

The honest truth is that every day was new, every day was a challenge, every day was starting from a fresh place, and as time went on, over the course of about two years, things became better and better. But I don’t think that there was for me anything like, ‘Ah, this is taking too long’, because ‘long’ didn’t exist. So I see it as a blessing. I have to laugh. I mean there’s no other way to look at it.

To tell the truth is very difficult, and young people are rarely capable of it.

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.