Samuel Johnson

A fly may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

Prudence operates on life in the same manner as rule of composition; it produces vigilance rather than elevation; rather prevents loss than procures advantage; and often miscarriages, but seldom reaches either power or honor.

Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next wish is to change again. The world is not yet exhausted; let me see something tomorrow which I never saw before.

The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.

Virtue is too often merely local.

I gleaned jests at home from obsolete farces.

Tread softly, Breathe peacefully, Laugh hysterically.

Do you know that the tendrils of graft and corruption have become mighty interlacing roots so that even men who would like to be honest are tripped and trapped by them?

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.

Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.

Visit the Navy-Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts – a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments.

Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind.

He is rich who is content with the least; for contentment is the wealth of nature.

It is tact that is golden, not silence.

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

Depend upon it that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him.

Human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning.

You have to choose between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence of the members of the Government. And, with due respect for these gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the Capitalist system lasts, to vote for gold.

Every mind has a choice between truth and repose. Take which you please you can never have both.

I have not become the Kings First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.