Samuel Johnson

His scorn of the great is repeated too often to be real; no man thinks much of that which he despises.

The most fatal disease of friendship is gradual decay, or dislike hourly increased by causes too slender for complaint, and too numerous for removal.

The luster of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue.

He that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly become corrupt.

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.

There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either.

Man is the only animal which esteems itself rich in proportion to the number and voracity of its parasites.

Upon awakening, let the words Thank You flow from your lips, for this will remind you to begin your day with gratitude and compassion.

The world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome, dubious eggs, called possibilities.

When a man is in doubt about this or that in his writing, it will often guide him if he asks himself how it will tell a hundred years hence.

Nothing is beneath you if it is in the direction of your life.

Oh man! There is no planet sun or star could hold you, if you but knew what you are.

Nothing’s beautiful from every point of view.

Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.

Who’s not sat tense before his own heart’s curtain.

Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.

Sometimes if I see negative things it really doesn’t faze me, because you’ve got to be tough and you’ve got to be you.

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.

The miracles of genius always rest on profound convictions which refuse to be analyzed.

Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.

He that outlives a wife whom he has long loved, sees himself disjoined from the only mind that has the same hopes, and fears, and interest; from the only companion with whom he has shared much good and evil; and with whom he could set his mind at liberty, to retrace the past or anticipate the future. The continuity of being is lacerated; the settled course of sentiment and action is stopped; and life stands suspended and motionless.