Samuel Johnson

There are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking; as there are fruits that are not good until they are rotten.

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.

It is better that some should be unhappy than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.

Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.

Wickedness is always easier than virtue, for it takes a short cut to everything.

Its proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.

Any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) where the law rules, and the people are a party to those laws, and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or confusion.

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.

Revolutions are always verbose.

In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.

We mustn’t be stiff and stand-off, you know. We must be thoroughly democratic, and patronize everybody without distinction of class.

Those that are little, little things suit.

People are much more willing to lend you books than bookcases.

If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground.

A big leather-bound volume makes an ideal razor strap. A thin book is useful to stick under a table with a broken caster to steady it. A large, flat atlas can be used to cover a window with a broken pane. And a thick, old-fashioned heavy book with a clasp is the finest thing in the world to throw at a noisy cat.

A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.

There is nothing capricious in nature and the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feel it.

When one has tasted it Watermelon he knows what the angels eat.

Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.

God as now generally conceived of is only the last witch.