Samuel Johnson

All theory is against freedom of the will; all experience for it.

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.

Sir, a man who cannot get to heaven in a green coat, will not find his way thither the sooner in a gray one.

When I was as you are now, towering in the confidence of twenty-one, little did I suspect that I should be at forty-nine, what I now am.

There are few things that we so unwillingly give up, even in advanced age, as the supposition that we still have the power of ingratiating ourselves with the fair sex.

The majority have no other reason for their opinions than that they are the fashion.

Love grows. Lust wastes by Enjoyment, and the Reason is, that one springs from an Union of Souls, and the other from an Union of Sense.

Associate reverently, as much as you can, with your loftiest thoughts.

The only prudence in life is concentration.

A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his companions by every word. Every opinion reacts on him who utters it. It is a threadball thrown at a mark, but the other end remains on the thrower.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,Here once the embattled farmers stood,And fired the shot heard round the world.

The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistorical acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.

To inherit property is not to be born – it is to be still-born, rather.

When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.

Your most precious, valued possessions and your greatest powers are invisible and intangible. No one can take them. You, and you alone, can give them. You will receive abundance for your giving.

You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.

The heart is forever inexperienced.

How can they expect a harvest of thought who have not had the seed time of character.

It is a profitable Wisdom to know when we have done enough: Much time and Pains are spared, in not flattering our selves against Probabilities.

The men who have furnished me with my greatest inspiration have not been men of wealth, but men of deeds.