Samuel Johnson

When any calamity has been suffered, the first thing to be remembered is how much has been escaped.

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

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.

The wise man applauds he who he thinks most virtuous; the rest of the world applauds the wealthy.

At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest.

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

We judge of man’s wisdom by his hope.

Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.

When one wanted one’s interests looking after whatever the cost, it was not so well for a lawyer to be over honest, else he might not be up to other people’s tricks.

Who then is free? The wise man who can command himself.

I am neither of the East nor of the West, no boundaries exist within my breast.

Burning logs can carry on quite a conversation! … Have you ever heard apple wood talking? It’s the most loquacious of all. You really can’t get a word in edgeways.

Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.

I talk democracy to these men and women. I tell them that they have the vote, and that theirs is the kingdom and the power and the glory. I say to them You are supreme: exercise your power. They say, That’s right: tell us what to do; and I tell them. I say Exercise our vote intelligently by voting for me. And they do. That’s democracy; and a splendid thing it is too for putting the right men in the right place.

In every author let us distinguish the man from his works.

If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your ego and the internal dialogue. Make a decision to relinquish the need to control, the need to be approved, and the need to judge. Those are the three things the ego is doing all the time. It’s very important to be aware of them every time they come up.

If all the economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.

True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.

We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.

Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.

That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do what is right.