Death Quotes by Samuel Johnson

Disease generally begins that equality which death completes.

— Samuel Johnson

Grief is a species of idleness.

— Samuel Johnson

The whole of life is but keeping away the thoughts of death.

— Samuel Johnson

The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die.

— Samuel Johnson

If one was to think constantly of death, the business of life would stand still

— Samuel Johnson

It seems to be remarkable that death increases our veneration for the good, and extenuates our hatred for the bad.

— Samuel Johnson

The uncertainty of death is, in effect, the great support of the whole system of life.

— Samuel Johnson

“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”

— Samuel Johnson

Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, and sign your will before you sup from home.

— Samuel Johnson

Disease is a physical process that generally begins that equality which death completes

— Samuel Johnson

Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates.

— Samuel Johnson

When we see our enemies and friends gliding away before us, let us not forget that we are subject to the general…

— Samuel Johnson

Solitude is dangerous to reason, without being favorable to virtue. Remember that the solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probably superstitious, and possibly…

— Samuel Johnson

“He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own dispositions will waste…

— Samuel Johnson

The main of life is composed of small incidents and petty occurrences; of wishes for objects not remote, and grief for disappointments…

— Samuel Johnson

The business of life summons us away from useless grief, and calls us to the exercise of those virtues of which we…

— Samuel Johnson

I have ever since (his wife's death) seemed to myself broken off from mankind; a kind of solitary wanderer in the wild…

— Samuel Johnson

It is dangerous for mortal beauty, or terrestrial virtue, to be examined by too strong a light. The torch of Truth shows…

— Samuel Johnson

Then with no throbs of fiery pain, No cold gradations of decay, Death broke at once the vital chain, And freed his…

— Samuel Johnson

When a friend is carried to his grave, we at once find excuses for every weakness, and palliation of every fault. We…

— Samuel Johnson

Every man, however hopeless his pretensions may appear, has some project by which he hopes to rise to reputation; some art by…

— Samuel Johnson

“The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who hath so little knowledge of human nature as to…

— Samuel Johnson

The safe and general antidote against sorrow is employment. It is commonly observed, that among soldiers and seamen, though there is much…

— Samuel Johnson

Disease generally begins that equality which death completes; the distinctions which set one man so much above another are very little perceived…

— Samuel Johnson

The certainty that life cannot be long, and the probability that it will be much shorter than nature allows, ought to awaken…

— Samuel Johnson

In the decline of life shame and grief are of short duration; whether it be that we bear easily what we have…

— Samuel Johnson

To purchase Heaven has gold the power? Can gold remove the mortal hour? In life can love be bought with gold? Are…

— Samuel Johnson

It is a common error, and the greater and more mischievous for being so common, to believe that repentance best becomes and…

— Samuel Johnson

Of all the griefs that harass the distressed, sure the most bitter is a scornful jest.

— Samuel Johnson

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so…

— Samuel Johnson

His death eclipsed the gayety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.

— Samuel Johnson

There is not, perhaps, to a mind well instructed, a more painful occurrence, than the death of one we have injured without…

— Samuel Johnson

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

— Samuel Johnson

Of all the griefs that harass the distress'd, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest; Fate never wounds more deep the…

— Samuel Johnson

To neglect at any time preparation for death is to sleep on our post at a siege; to omit it in old…

— Samuel Johnson

The friendship which is to be practised or expected by common mortals, must take its rise from mutual pleasure, and must end…

— Samuel Johnson

The belief of immortality is impressed upon all men, and all men act under an impression of it, however they may talk,…

— Samuel Johnson

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate…

— Samuel Johnson

Philosophy has often attempted to repress insolence by asserting that all conditions are leveled by death; a position which, however it may…

— Samuel Johnson

“Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life . . . the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more…

— Samuel Johnson