Samuel Johnson

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.

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

Pride is seldom delicate; it will please itself with very mean advantages.

Everything that enlarges the sphere of human powers, that shows man he can do what he thought he could not do, is valuable.

Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience. You will find it a calamity.

Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

You are now fixed at the mercy of no governor that comes to make his fortune great; you shall be governed by laws of your own making and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious life. I shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution and has given me his grace to keep it.

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.

It is not known precisely where angels dwell whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God’s pleasure that we should be informed of their abode.

I could have become a soldier if I had waited; I knew more about retreating than the man who invented retreating.

There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s desire. The other is to get it.

Sometimes people mistake the way I talk for what I am thinking.

Cruel with guilt, and daring with despair, the midnight murderer bursts the faithless bar; invades the sacred hour of silent rest and leaves, unseen, a dagger in your breast.

I want to be all used up when I die.

He who praises every body, praises nobody.

Sincerity is the highest complement you can pay.

If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.

Not gold but only men can makeA people great and strong;Men who for truth and honors sakeStand fast and suffer long. Brave men who work while others sleep,Who dare while others flyThey build a nations pillars deepAnd lift them to the sky.

Take away the danger and remove the restraint, and wayward nature runs free.

Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.

Nothing astonishes people so much as common sense and plain dealing.