---
title: "6 Chosen Quotes By Samuel Johnson"
description: "6 Chosen quotes by Samuel Johnson. Plus more from Samuel Johnson and more Chosen sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e5/samuel-johnson-50_affectation_affectation-is-to-be-always-distinguishe_725253.png"
---

> [Affectation is to be always distinguished from hypocrisy as being the art of counterfeiting those qualities, which we might with innocence and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/affectation-is-to-be-always-distinguished-from-hypocrisy-as-being-the/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e5/samuel-johnson-50_affectation_affectation-is-to-be-always-distinguishe_725253.png)

> [Friends are often chosen for similitude of manners, and therefore each palliates the other's failings because they are his own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/friends-are-often-chosen-for-similitude-of-manners-and-therefore-each/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f76/samuel-johnson-50_chosen_friends-are-often-chosen-for-similitude_1491827.png)

> [I am not able to instruct you. I can only tell that I have chosen wrong. I have passed my time in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/i-am-not-able-to-instruct-you-i-can-only-tell-that-i-have-chosen/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4f5/samuel-johnson-50_able_i-am-not-able-to-instruct-you-i-can-only_1531922.jpg)

> [Life of Ages, richly poured, Love of God unspent and free, Flowing in the Prophet's word And the People's liberty! Never was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/life-of-ages-richly-poured-love-of-god-unspent-and-free-flowing-in/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58d/samuel-johnson-50_age_life-of-ages-richly-poured-love-of-god-u_1837724.png)

> [When the original is well chosen and judiciously copied, the imitator often arrives at excellence which he could never have attained without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/when-the-original-is-well-chosen-and-judiciously-copied-the-imitator/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/daa/samuel-johnson-50_ability_when-the-original-is-well-chosen-and-jud_2061537.jpg)

> [Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy, affectation part of the chosen trappings of folly; the one completes a villain, the other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/hypocrisy-is-the-necessary-burden-of-villainy-affectation-part-of-the/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/457/samuel-johnson-50_burden_hypocrisy-is-the-necessary-burden-of-vil_3021708.jpg)

## Other authors on Chosen

## More by Samuel Johnson

> [The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-size-of-a-man-s-understanding-might-always-be-justly-measured-by/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/pound-st-paul-s-church-into-atoms-and-consider-any-single-atom-it-is/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [You can never be wise unless you love reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/you-can-never-be-wise-unless-you-love-reading/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [If our aim is to praise, we should forget to criticize; if our aim is to criticize, we should remember to praise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/if-our-aim-is-to-praise-we-should-forget-to-criticize-if-our-aim-is/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [All theory is against free will; all experience is for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/all-theory-is-against-free-will-all-experience-is-for-it/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [Had I learned to fiddle, I should have done nothing else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/had-i-learned-to-fiddle-i-should-have-done-nothing-else/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/it-is-as-foolish-to-make-experiments-upon-the-constancy-of-a-friend/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/resolve-not-to-be-poor-whatever-you-have-spend-less-poverty-is-a/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [The basis of all excellence is truth: he that professes love ought to feel its power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-basis-of-all-excellence-is-truth-he-that-professes-love-ought-to/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [Words are daughters of earth but ideas are sons of heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/words-are-daughters-of-earth-but-ideas-are-sons-of-heaven/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [“The composition of Shakespeare is a forest, in which oaks extend in the air, interspersed sometimes with weeds and brambles, and sometimes giving shelting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-composition-of-shakespeare-is-a-forest-in-which-oaks-extend-in/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [“The cherubim were never intended as an object of worship, because they were only the appendices to another thing. But a thing is then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-cherubim-were-never-intended-as-an-object-of-worship-because-they/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [Nobody has the right to put another under such a difficulty that he must either hurt the person by telling the truth or hurt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/nobody-has-the-right-to-put-another-under-such-a-difficulty-that-he/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own self-esteem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/that-kind-of-life-is-most-happy-which-affords-us-most-opportunities/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-time-will-come-to-every-human-being-when-it-must-be-known-how/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

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