Samuel Johnson

Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.

No one ever became great by imitation.

If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.

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

The superiority of some men is merely local. They are great because their associates are little.

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.

Can you really explain to a fish what it’s like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value.

The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Necessity does everything well.

Letting go is not giving up.

A patronizing disposition always has its meaner side.

There is no wisdom in useless and hopeless sorrow, but there is something in it so like virtue, that he who is wholly without it cannot be loved.

If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven’t courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.

Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution.

Oftentimes, it’s the way we react to change that is the thing that determines the overall experience.

When I am abroad, I always make it a rule to never criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.

An awareness of our past is essential to the establishment of our personality and our identity as Africans.

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.

Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know.