Samuel Johnson

Disappointment, when it involves neither shame nor loss, is as good as success; for it supplies as many images to the mind, and as many topics to the tongue.

The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and art are ransacked for illustrations, comparisons, and allusions; their learning instructs, and their subtlety surprises; but the reader commonly thinks his improvement dearly bought and, though he sometimes admires, is seldom pleased.

At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest.

We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself.

Friendship, ‘the wine of life,’ said Boswell, should, like a well-stocked cellar, be thus continually renewed. And Dr. Johnson added to this A man, Sir, should keep his friendships in constant repair.

Pleasure that is obtained by unreasonable and unsuitable cost, must always end in pain.

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

Sometimes too much drink is barely enough.

No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.

Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.

Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment.

Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.

We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.

As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself, it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep and never to refrain when awake.

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Whenever you wish to do anything against the law, Cicely, always consult a good solicitor first.

The person that had took a bull by the tail once had learnt sixty or seventy times as much as a person that hadn’t, and said a person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was getting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him, and warn’t ever going to grow dim or doubtful. Chances are, he isn’t likely to carry the cat that way again, either. But if he wants to, I say let him!

The price of greatness is responsibility.

I think probably kindness is my number one attribute in a human being. I’ll put it before any of the things like courage or bravery or generosity or anything else.

An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones. We should have patience and see whether the incoherency is likely to wear off or to wear on, in which latter case the sooner we get rid of them the better.

Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws.