Samuel Johnson

Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.

Revenge is the act of passion, vengeance is an act of justice.

Bounty always receives part of its value from the manner in which it is bestowed.

Nothing is more hopeless than a scheme of merriment.

Sir, he was dull in company, dull in his closet, dull everywhere. He was dull in a new way, and that made many people think him great.

There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.

It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, ‘always do what you are afraid to do.’

A strenuous soul hates cheap success.

The line of beauty is the line of perfect economy.

He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.

Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed by them.

The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.

Life at its noblest leaves mere happiness far behind; and indeed cannot endure it. Happiness is not the object of life: life has no object: it is an end in itself; and courage consists in the readiness to sacrifice happiness for an intenser quality of life.

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

I don’t think the human mind can comprehend the past and the future. They are both just illusions that can manipulate you into thinking theres some kind of change.

Tis a rule of manners to avoid exaggeration.

Guilt, regret, resentment, sadness and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past and not enough presence.

He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.

No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war.

I finished my first book seventy-six years ago. I offered it to every publisher on the English-speaking earth I had ever heard of. Their refusals were unanimous: and it did not get into print until, fifty years later; publishers would publish anything that had my name on it.