Samuel Johnson

He who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind anything else.

That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.

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

No one ever became great by imitation.

Prejudice not being funded on reason cannot be removed by argument.

We are inclined to believe those whom we don not know because they have never deceived us.

If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

A crime persevered in a thousand centuries ceases to be a crime, and becomes a virtue. This is the law of custom, and custom supersedes all other forms of law.

Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.

Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff.

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.

Forget and forgive. This is not difficult when properly understood. It means forget inconvenient duties, then forgive yourself for forgetting. By rigid practice and stern determination, it comes easy.

Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

It is easy to say how we love new friends, and what we think of them, but words can never trace out all the fibers that knit us to the old.

Difficult do you call it, Sir? I wish it were impossible.

The usual fortune of complaint is to excite contempt more than pity.

As Puppets are to Men, and Babies to Children, so is Man’s Workmanship to God’s: We are the Picture, he the Reality.

The search after the great men is the dream of youth, and the most serious occupation of manhood.

A toddling little girl is a center of common feeling which makes the most dissimilar people understand each other.

Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content.