Giving Quotes by Samuel Johnson

Men seldom give pleasure when they are not pleased themselves.

— Samuel Johnson

Nature never gives everything at once.

— Samuel Johnson

I have already enjoyed too much; give me something to desire.

— Samuel Johnson

You cannot give me an instance of any man who is permitted to lay out his own time contriving not to have…

— Samuel Johnson

Every human being whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge.

— Samuel Johnson

Wine gives great pleasure; and every pleasure is of itself a good. It is a good, unless counterbalanced by evil.

— Samuel Johnson

Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you…

— Samuel Johnson

The hour of reformation is always delayed; every delay gives vice another opportunity of fortifying itself by habit.

— Samuel Johnson

Being reproached for giving to an unworthy person, Aristotle said, I did not give it to the man, but to humanity.

— Samuel Johnson

Nature makes us poor only when we want necessaries, but custom gives the name of poverty to the want of superfluities.

— Samuel Johnson

The great end of prudence is to give cheerfulness to those hours which splendor cannot gild, and acclamation cannot exhilarate.

— Samuel Johnson

It is more reasonable to wish for reputation while it may be enjoyed, as Anacreon calls upon his companions to give him…

— Samuel Johnson

Let him that desires to see others happy, make haste to give while his gift can be enjoyed, and remember that every…

— Samuel Johnson

Guilt has always its horrors and solicitudes; and, to make it yet more shameful and detestable, it is doomed often to stand…

— Samuel Johnson

You are much surer that you are doing good when you pay money to those who work, as the recompense of their…

— Samuel Johnson

Attention and respect give pleasure, however late, or however useless. But they are not useless, when they are late, it is reasonable…

— Samuel Johnson

There is a certain race of men that either imagine it their duty, or make it their amusement, to hinder the reception…

— Samuel Johnson

A lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes, unless his client asks his opinion,…

— Samuel Johnson

You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it…

— Samuel Johnson

Advice, as it always gives a temporary appearance of superiority, can never be very grateful, even when it is most necessary or…

— Samuel Johnson

It is not possible to be regarded with tenderness, except by a few. That merit which gives greatness and renown diffuses its…

— Samuel Johnson

The common people do not accurately adapt their thoughts to objects; nor, secondly, do they accurately adapt their words to their thoughts;…

— Samuel Johnson

Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent.…

— Samuel Johnson

Nothing has so exposed men of learning to contempt and ridicule as their ignorance of things which are known to all but…

— Samuel Johnson

Piety practiced in solitude, like the flower that blooms in the desert, may give its fragrance to the winds of heaven, and…

— Samuel Johnson

Exercise cannot secure us from that dissolution to which we are decreed; but while the soul and body continue united, it can…

— Samuel Johnson

I have thought of a pulley to raise me gradually; but that would give me pain, as it would counteract my natural…

— Samuel Johnson

Treating your adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled.

— Samuel Johnson

The drama's laws the drama's patrons give. For we that live to please must please to live.

— Samuel Johnson

No, Sir, you will have much more influence by giving or lending money where it is wanted, than by hospitality.

— Samuel Johnson

Wine gives a man nothing. It neither gives him knowledge nor wit; it only animates a man, and enables him to bring…

— Samuel Johnson

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

— Samuel Johnson

Wine gives great pleasure, and every pleasure is of itself a good. and A man should cultivate his mind so as to…

— 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

We have now learned that rashness and imprudence will not be deterred from taking credit; let us try whether fraud and avarice…

— Samuel Johnson

Gaiety is to good-humor as animal perfumes to vegetable fragrance. The one overpowers weak spirits, the other recreates and revives them. Gaiety…

— Samuel Johnson

Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights…

— Samuel Johnson

Advice, as it always gives a temporary appearance of superiority, can never be very grateful, even when it is most necessary or…

— Samuel Johnson

Whosoever shall look heedfully upon those who are eminent for their riches will not think their condition such as that he should…

— Samuel Johnson

There are some works which the authors must consign unpublished to posterity, however uncertain be the event, however hopeless be the trust.…

— Samuel Johnson