Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
An Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every quotation contributes something to the stability or enlargement of language. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to be quite true. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Language is the work of man, of a being from whom permanence and stability can not be derived — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Language is the dress of thought; every time you talk your mind is on parade. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Words become low by the occasions to which they are applied, or the general character of them who use them; and the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
As any custom is disused, the words that expressed it must perish with it; as any opinion grows popular, it will innovate… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
You may translate books of science exactly. ... The beauties of poetry cannot be preserved in any language except that in which… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Lexicographer: a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Few faults of style, whether real or imaginary, excite the malignity of a more numerous class of readers, than the use of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Language is the dress of thought; and as the noblest mien or most graceful action would be degraded and obscured by a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To use two languages familiarly and without contaminating one by the other, is very difficult; and to use more than two is… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Difference of thoughts will produce difference of language. He that thinks with more extent than another, will want words of a larger… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Poetry cannot be translated; and, therefore, it is the poets that preserve the languages; for we would not be at the trouble… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“My dear friend, clear your mind of cant [excessive thought]. You may talk as other people do: you may say to a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“Who will consider that no dictionary of a living tongue ever can be perfect, since, while it is hastening to publication, some… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Exactness is first obtained, and afterwards elegance. But diction, merely vocal, is always in its childhood. As no man leaves his eloquence… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When a language begins to teem with books, it is tending to refinement; as those who undertake to teach others must have… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The common people do not accurately adapt their thoughts to objects; nor, secondly, do they accurately adapt their words to their thoughts;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“APOCOPE (APO'COPE) n.s.[ figure in grammar,when the last letter or syllable of a word is taken away; as, ingeni for ingenii.” — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Words too familiar, or too remote, defeat the purpose of a poet. From those sounds which we hear on small or on… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When I first collected these authorities, I was desirous that every quotation should be useful to some other end than the illustration… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I am not yet so lost in lexicography, as to forget that words are the daughters of the earth, and that things… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every man speaks and writes with intent to be understood; and it can seldom happen but he that understands himself, might convey… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“If the changes that we fear be thus irresistible, what remains but to acquiesce with silence, as in the other insurmountable distresses… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
If our aim is to praise, we should forget to criticize; if our aim is to criticize, we should remember to praise — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
The basis of all excellence is truth: he that professes love ought to feel its power. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
“The composition of Shakespeare is a forest, in which oaks extend in the air, interspersed sometimes with weeds and brambles, and sometimes giving shelting… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
“The cherubim were never intended as an object of worship, because they were only the appendices to another thing. But a thing is then… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
Nobody has the right to put another under such a difficulty that he must either hurt the person by telling the truth or hurt… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own self-esteem — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
![“My dear friend, clear your mind of cant [excessive thought]. You may talk as other people do: you may say to a man, "Sir, I am your most humble servant." You are not his most humble servant. You may say, "These are bad times; it is a melancholy thing to be reserved to such times." You don't mind…” quote by Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/590/samuel-johnson-50_appropriateness_my-dear-friend-clear-your-mind-of-cant-e_74600.jpg)
