Samuel Johnson

The drama’s laws, the drama’s patrons give, for we that live to please, must please to live.

There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.

Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.

The highest panegyric, therefore, that private virtue can receive, is the praise of servants.

He who praises everybody, praises nobody.

A short letter to a distant friend is, in my opinion, an insult like that of a slight bow or cursory salutation — a proof of unwillingness to do much, even where there is a necessity of doing something.

All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships. There is the whole case against censorships in a nutshell.

Ice-cream is exquisite – what a pity it isn’t illegal.

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.

To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavors with his utmost care to hide his poverty from others, and his idleness from himself.

Give me beauty in the inward soul; may the outward and the inward man be at one.

If you want the moon, do not hide from the night. If you want a rose, do not hide from the thorns. If you want love, do not hide from yourself.

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most. On Other Peoples Expectations: The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor; he took my measurement anew every time he saw me, while all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me.

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

Let us not be too particular; it is better to have old secondhand diamonds than none at all.

Acorns were good until bread was found.

The rich mind lies in the sun and sleeps, and is Nature.

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

Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written.

There is a certain satisfaction in coming down to the lowest ground of politics, for we get rid of cant and hypocrisy.