Reason Quotes by Samuel Johnson

Reason and truth will prevail at last

— Samuel Johnson

Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument.

— Samuel Johnson

All power of fancy over reason is a degree of madness.

— Samuel Johnson

We may take Fancy for a companion, but must follow Reason as our guide.

— Samuel Johnson

Human reason borrowed many arts from the instinct of animals.

— Samuel Johnson

Of many, imagined blessings it may be doubted whether he that wants or possesses them had more reason to be satisfied with…

— Samuel Johnson

“There is no problem the mind of man can set that the mind of man cannot solve.”

— Samuel Johnson

He who would govern his actions by the laws of virtue must regulate his thoughts by those of reason.

— Samuel Johnson

There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman.

— Samuel Johnson

Some people wave their dogmatic thinking until their own reason is entangled.

— Samuel Johnson

The majority have no other reason for their opinions than that they are the fashion.

— Samuel Johnson

Reason will by degrees submit to absurdity, as the eye is in time accommodated to darkness.

— Samuel Johnson

Whatever is proposed, it is much easier to find reasons for rejecting than embracing.

— 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

Locke, whom there is no reason to suspect of being a favorer of idleness or libertinism, has advanced that whoever hopes to…

— Samuel Johnson

The duty of criticism is neither to depreciate nor dignify by partial representations, but to hold out the light of reason, whatever…

— Samuel Johnson

Pity is not natural to man. Children and savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation of reason.…

— Samuel Johnson

A man finds in the productions of nature an inexhaustible stock of material on which he can employ himself, without any temptations…

— Samuel Johnson

Their origin is commonly unknown; for the practice often continues when the cause has ceased, and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is in…

— Samuel Johnson

The world will never be long without some good reason to hate the unhappy; their real faults are immediately detected; and if…

— Samuel Johnson

What is the reason that women servants ... have much lower wages than men servants ... when in fact our female house…

— 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

There is reason to suspect, that the distinctions of mankind have more show than value, when it is found that all agree…

— Samuel Johnson

Many of our miseries are merely comparative: we are often made unhappy, not by the presence of any real evil, but by…

— Samuel Johnson

It is not difficult to conceive, however, that for many reasons a man writes much better than he lives. For without entering…

— Samuel Johnson

Among the innumerable mortifications which waylay human arrogance on every side may well be reckoned our ignorance of the most common objects…

— Samuel Johnson

Wisdom and virtue are by no means sufficient, without the supplemental laws of good-breeding, to secure freedom from degenerating into rudeness, or…

— Samuel Johnson

There are occasions on which it is noble to dare to stand alone. To be pious among infidels, to be disinterested in…

— Samuel Johnson

It has long been observed, that an atheist has no just reason for endeavouring conversions; and yet none harass those minds which…

— Samuel Johnson

“Reason by degrees submits to absurdity, as the eye in time is accommodated to darkness.”

— Samuel Johnson

It is not from reason and prudence that people marry, but from inclination.

— Samuel Johnson

We have less reason to be surprised or offended when we find others differ from us in opinion, because we very often…

— Samuel Johnson

There may be other reasons for a man's not speaking in publick than want of resolution: he may have nothing to say.

— Samuel Johnson

A student may easily exhaust his life in comparing divines and moralists without any practical regard to morals and religion; he may…

— Samuel Johnson

I have two very cogent reasons for not printing any list of subscribers; one, that I have lost all the names, the…

— Samuel Johnson

The accidental prescriptions of authority, when time has procured them veneration, are often confounded with the laws of nature, and those rules…

— Samuel Johnson

Fear is implanted in us as a preservative from evil but its duty, like that of other passions, is not to overbear…

— Samuel Johnson

Pity is not natural to man. Children are always cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation…

— Samuel Johnson

Evil is uncertain in the same degree as good, and for the reason that we ought not to hope too securely, we…

— Samuel Johnson

There is nothing more dreadful to an author than neglect; compared with which reproach, hatred, and opposition are names of happiness; yet…

— Samuel Johnson