Samuel Johnson

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good.

Sir, they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging.

He that pursues fame with just claims, trusts his happiness to the winds; but he that endeavors after it by false merit, has to fear, not only the violence of the storm, but the leaks of his vessel.

All wonder is the effect of novelty on ignorance.

Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, and sign your will before you sup from home.

One of the disadvantages of wine is that it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.

Conscience is thoroughly well-bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to hear it.

Often the surest way to convey misinformation is to tell the strict truth.

Every sweet has its sour; every evil its good.

Sobriety, severity, and self-respect are the foundations of all true sociality.

She has taken a patronizing fancy to her father, the Admiral, who accepts her condescension gratefully as age brings more and more home to him the futility of his social position.

Be virtuous and you will be eccentric.

We’re comic. We’re all comics. We live in a comic time. And the worse it gets the more comic we are.

Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind.

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.

Every reform was once a private opinion, and when it shall be a private opinion again, it will solve the problem of the age.

Each time you learn something new you must readjust the whole framework of your knowledge

I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.

Tis a rule of manners to avoid exaggeration.

Whether you come from a council estate or a country estate, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude.

It’s not whether you get knocked down, its whether you get back up.