Samuel Johnson

Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments.

Sir, he was dull in company, dull in his closet, dull everywhere. He was dull in a new way, and that made many people think him great.

He who praises every body, praises nobody.

Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off.

As to the rout that is made about people who are ruined by extravagance, it is no matter to the nation that some individuals suffer. When so much general productive exertion is the consequence of luxury, the nation does not care though there are debtors; nay, they would not care though their creditors were there too.

Lawyers know life practically. A bookish man should always have them to converse with.

Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well.

When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them. But when they are away, we console ourselves for their absence by dwelling on their vices.

Wisdom begins in wonder.

A lot of power and bravery is practice. And some of that is taking the risk to try and be at the table. And then when you’re at the table, taking that first risk to open your mouth and risk being rejected.

The measure of a great leader, is their success in bringing everyone around to their opinion twenty years later.

As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.

He who praises every body, praises nobody.

The longer we live the more we think and the higher the value we put on friendship and tenderness towards parents and friends.

I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

Surrender is faith that the power of love can accomplish anything… even when you can not foresee the outcome.

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.

Many things difficult in design prove easy in performance.

We hear and apprehend only what we already half know.

The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape.

Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.