Crime Quotes by Samuel Johnson

18 Crime quotes by Samuel Johnson

Johnson’s 18 observations on crime blend sharp moral judgment with his characteristic humor. The collection feels like a seasoned commentator weighing the folly of wrongdoing against the virtues of virtue.

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The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.

Samuel Johnson

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Riches, perhaps, do not so often produce crimes as incite accusers.

Samuel Johnson

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Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal.

Samuel Johnson

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The most Heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together.

Samuel Johnson

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Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.

Samuel Johnson

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But grant, the virtues of a temp'rate prime Bless with an age exempt from scorn or crime; An age that melts with…

Samuel Johnson

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Dishonor waits on perfidy. A man should blush to think a falsehood; it is the crime of cowards.

Samuel Johnson

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He that voluntarily continues in ignorance, is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces.

Samuel Johnson

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I know not any crime so great that a man could contrive to commit as poisoning the sources of eternal truth.

Samuel Johnson

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Health is so necessary to all the duties, as well as pleasures of life, that the crime of squandering it is equal…

Samuel Johnson

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We are easily shocked by crimes which appear at once in their full magnitude, but the gradual growth of our own wickedness,…

Samuel Johnson

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If misery be the effect of virtue, it ought to be reverenced; if of ill-fortune, to be pitied; and if of vice,…

Samuel Johnson

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Governors being accustomed to hear of more crimes than they can punish, and more wrongs than they can redress, set themselves at…

Samuel Johnson

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...a common observation, that few are mended by imprisonment, and that he, whose crimes have made confinement necessary, seldom makes any other…

Samuel Johnson

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Many a man is mad in certain instances, and goes through life without having it perceived. For example, a madness has seized…

Samuel Johnson

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There is no crime more infamous than the violation of truth. It is apparent that men can be social beings no longer…

Samuel Johnson

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In most ages many countries have had part of their inhabitants in a state of slavery; yet it may be doubted whether…

Samuel Johnson

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Every one should consider himself as intrusted not only with his own conduct, but with that of others; and as accountable, not…

Samuel Johnson

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The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.

Samuel Johnson

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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

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You can never be wise unless you love reading.

Samuel Johnson

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If our aim is to praise, we should forget to criticize; if our aim is to criticize, we should remember to praise

Samuel Johnson

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All theory is against free will; all experience is for it.

Samuel Johnson

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Had I learned to fiddle, I should have done nothing else.

Samuel Johnson

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It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife.

Samuel Johnson

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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

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The basis of all excellence is truth: he that professes love ought to feel its power.

Samuel Johnson

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Words are daughters of earth but ideas are sons of heaven.

Samuel Johnson

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“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