Samuel Johnson

That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem.

As to the rout that is made about people who are ruined by extravagance, it is no matter to the nation that some individuals suffer. When so much general productive exertion is the consequence of luxury, the nation does not care though there are debtors; nay, they would not care though their creditors were there too.

Few enterprises of great labor or hazard would be undertaken if we had not the power of magnifying the advantages we expect from them.

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

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

It is dangerous for mortal beauty, or terrestrial virtue, to be examined by too strong a light. The torch of Truth shows much that we cannot, and all that we would not, see.

Nothing is so exhilarating in life as to be shot at with no result.

When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.

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

Every doctor will allow a colleague to decimate a whole countryside sooner than violate the bond of professional etiquette by giving him away.

Real love begins when nothing is expected in return.

There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little, and therefore men should remedy suspicion by procuring to know more, and not keep their suspicions in smother.

I have found men to be more kind than I expected, and less just.

This body of mine is my teacher. This heart of mine, my guide. My dear head struggles to make sense of it all whilst my hands gently remind me to trust and let go.

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 strenuous soul hates cheap success.

And deep in my heart. The answer, it was in me. And I made up my mind. To define my own destiny.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Only poetry inspires poetry.

Life is too precious to be spent in this weaving and unweaving of false impressions, and it is better to live quietly under some degree of misrepresentation than to attempt to remove it by the uncertain process of letter-writing.

The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.