Samuel Johnson

Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking.

We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us.

Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy.

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

Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative recompense has been yet granted to very few.

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

Do something every day that you don’t want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.

You are a constant. Forever in my mind; forever in my heart. It seems that most matter how much I try I can’t get rid of you. You are a thorn, stuck in deep; painful to remove, and even when I do, still I’ll bleed and feel the soreness. It will take time, but it will heal. No matter the pain, I will still dare to pick roses.

No money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction.

We are just statistics, born to consume resources.

How great, my friends, is the virtue of living upon a little!

I mean why should somebody go steal and break the law to get all they can when there’s always some law where you can be legal and get it all anyway!

What provokes your risibility, Sir? Have I said anything that you understand? Then I ask pardon of the rest of the company.

The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.

I would not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.

We must train hard. It’s not about denying a weakness may exist but about denying its right to persist.

We are chameleons, and our partialities and prejudices change place with an easy and blessed facility, and we are soon wonted to the change and happy in it.

I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work till one is better.

There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.

I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.