Samuel Johnson

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.

Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree. We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us.

In all evils which admits a remedy, impatience should be avoided, because it wastes the time and attention in complaints which, if properly applied, might remove the cause.

To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts ready to his hand; so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is not required in any degree; only about as much as is used in the lowest kinds of poetry. Some penetration, accuracy, and coloring, will fit a man for the task, if he can give the application which is necessary.

It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tost upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to standing upon the vantage ground of truth… and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below.

It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentionally lying that there is so much falsehood in the world.

Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth

Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain’t so.

Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish your opinions.

There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure truth.

The lawyer’s truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.

Truth is a good dog; but always beware of barking too close to the heels of an error, lest you get your brains kicked out.

Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.

Man has always sacrificed truth to his vanity, comfort and advantage. He lives by makebelieve.

Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief or ignorance.

Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are economical in its use.

Let them look up in the sky then…! if they must be so blind, that cannot see the truth in broad daylight, but must have the whole world in darkness to see the conceit of the stars…

All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.

For truth is precious and divine, too rich a pearl for carnal swine.