Samuel Johnson

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.

One cause, which is not always observed, of the insufficiency of riches, is that they very seldom make their owner rich.

A Judge may be a farmer; but he is not to geld his own pigs. A Judge may play a little at cards for his own amusement; but he is not to play at marbles, or chuck farthing in the Piazza.

Depend upon it that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him; for where there is nothing but pure misery there never is any recourse to the mention of it.

A man who is good enough to go to heaven is not good enough to be a clergyman.

Much may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught young.

Ignorance… is a painless evil; so, I should think, is dirt, considering the merry faces that go along with it.

The greatest gift is the ability to forget – to forget the bad things and focus on the good.

It’s so hard to know what to do when one wishes earnestly to do right.

Since time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence – neither speed up nor slow down, add to nor diminish – it is an imponderably valuable gift.

Science does not know its debt to imagination.

Appearances matter – and remember to smile.

The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.

A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything.

If I had no duties, and no reference to futurity, I would spend my life in driving briskly in a post-chaise with a pretty woman.

Some people are stuck on who I was that who I am never even had a chance.

When you cannot get a compliment in any other way pay yourself one.

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.

We boast our emancipation from many superstitions; but if we have broken any idols, it is through a transfer of idolatry.

When you’ve got them by their wallets, their hearts and minds will follow.

Nothing does more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.