Samuel Johnson

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

Sir, that all who are happy, are equally happy, is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness.

The happiest part of a man’s life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.

Some people have a foolish way of not minding, or pretending not to mind, what they eat. For my part, I mind my belly very studiously, and very carefully; for I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind anything else.

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.

Suspicion is most often useless pain.

It is at our mother’s knee that we acquire our noblest and truest and highest ideals, but there is seldom any money in them.

Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout.

The rich man is always sold to the institution which makes him rich. Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue.

The city is recruited from the country.

Have wholesome, but not costly Food, and be rather cleanly than dainty in ordering it.

Tis admirable to consider, how Powerful the Kings are, yet they move by the Breath of their People.

When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it.

There is something in the human spirit that will survive and prevail, there is a tiny and brilliant light burning in the heart of man that will not go out no matter how dark the world becomes.

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.

We judge of man’s wisdom by his hope.

Union may be strength, but it is mere blind brute strength unless wisely directed.

The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain’t so.

Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree. We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us.

You must not suppose, because I am a man of letters, that I never tried to earn an honest living.

Sense never fails to give them that have it, Words enough to make them understood. It too often happens in some conversations, as in Apothecary Shops, that those Pots that are Empty, or have Things of small Value in them, are as gaudily Dress’d as those that are full of precious Drugs. They that soar too high, often fall hard, making a low and level Dwelling preferable. The tallest Trees are most in the Power of the Winds, and Ambitious Men of the Blasts of Fortune. Buildings have need of a good Foundation, that lie so much exposed to the Weather.