Samuel Johnson

Piety practiced in solitude, like the flower that blooms in the desert, may give its fragrance to the winds of heaven, and delight those unbodied spirits that survey the works of God and the actions of men; but it bestows no assistance upon earthly beings, and however free from taints of impurity, yet wants the sacred splendor of beneficence.

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

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to be quite true.

It is not from reason and prudence that people marry, but from inclination.

The mind is never satisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from the present moment, and losing itself in schemes of future felicity. The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.

Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do easily some feat impossible to any other.

Five minutes of today are worth as much to me, as five minutes in the next millennium. Let us be poised, and wise, and our own, today.

Be present in all things and thankful for all things.

Good fame is like fire; when you have kindled you may easily preserve it; but if you extinguish it, you will not easily kindle it again.

The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.

Ready are you? What know you of ready?

Nothing is worth doing unless the consequences may be serious.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.

One may discover a new side to his most intimate friend when for the first time he hears him speak in public. He will be stranger to him as he is more familiar to the audience. The longest intimacy could not foretell how he would behave then

The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most.

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.

People only see what they are prepared to see.

The older we grow the greater becomes our wonder at how much ignorance one can contain without bursting one’s clothes.

What a lot of things there are a man can do without.