Samuel Johnson

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

Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.

The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape.

The mind is refrigerated by interruption; the thoughts are diverted from the principal subject; the reader is weary, he suspects not why; and at last throws away the book, which he has too diligently studied.

It is reasonable to have perfection in our eye that we may always advance toward it, though we know it can never be reached.

Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.

The savage bows down to idols of wood and stone: the civilized man to idols of flesh and blood.

Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated use rather than total abstinence.

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.

Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.

There is a difference between being convinced and being stubborn.

There is nothing that can be changed more completely than human nature when the job is taken in hand early enough.

The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.

All I say is, kings is kings, and you got to make allowances. Take them all around, they’re a mighty ornery lot. It’s the way they’re raised.

There are those that are void of all mercy, but when it comes the time that they are on their knees, they plead for it. Those that were born with the art of deception, never sincere with their words or actions. But mercy is not theirs to take, only for you to give. Never compromise your standards, your beliefs and become like the ones who you are fighting against, but stay resolute to who you are.

A home without a cat-and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat-may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?

Haven’t you learned yet that I put something more than whisky into my speeches.

I’m only a beer teetotaler, not a champagne teetotaler.

Oaths are but words, and words are but wind.