Samuel Johnson

There are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking; as there are fruits that are not good until they are rotten.

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

It is wonderful to think how men of very large estates not only spend their yearly income, but are often actually in want of money. It is clear, they have not value for what they spend.

It is the only sensual pleasure without vice.

A man who is good enough to go to heaven is not good enough to be a clergyman.

There are few minds to which tyranny is not delightful.

Let us then try what love can do to mend a broken world.

Nature… She pardons no mistakes. Her yea is yea, and her nay, nay.

All successful men have agreed in one thing – they were causationists. They believed that things went not by luck, but by law; that there was not a weak or a cracked link in the chain that joins the first and last of things.

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

Self-trust is the essence of heroism.

In eternity there is indeed something true and sublime. But all these times and places and occasions are now and here. God himself culminates in the present moment and will never be more divine in the lapse of the ages. Time is but a stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it, but when I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away but eternity remains.

If a diplomat says yes, he means perhaps. If he says perhaps he means no. And if he says no, he’s the hell of a diplomat.

When we direct our thoughts properly, we can control our emotions…

Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.

When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.

Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment.