Samuel Johnson

It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done.

Suspicion is most often useless pain.

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.

Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.

Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess.

Youth enters the world with very happy prejudices in her own favor. She imagines herself not only certain of accomplishing every adventure, but of obtaining those rewards which the accomplishment may deserve. She is not easily persuaded to believe that the force of merit can be resisted by obstinacy and avarice, or its luster darkened by envy and malignity.

Men are apt to mistake the strength of their feeling for the strength of their argument. The heated mind resents the chill touch and relentless scrutiny of logic.

We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches.

A man finds room in the few square inches of the face for the traits of all his ancestors; for the expression of all his history, and his wants.

Work with some men is as besetting a sin as idleness.

The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without.

The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

If women were as fastidious as men, morally or physically, there would be an end of the race.

I like to be beholden to the great metropolitan English speech, the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven.

My reputation grows with every failure.

Every man will be a poet if he can; otherwise a philosopher or man of science. This proves the superiority of the poet.

There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus.

Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.

Englishmen hate Liberty and Equality too much to understand them. But every Englishman loves a pedigree.

Mental toughness is spartanism with qualities of sacrifice, self-denial, dedication. It is fearlessness, and it is love.