All Samuel Johnson Quotes
- Though the wisdom or virtue of one can very rarely make many happy, the folly or vice of one man often make many miserable. Folly
- Nothing is little to him that feels it with great sensibility. Great
- Life is surely given us for higher purposes than to gather what our ancestors have wisely thrown away, and to learn what is of no… Ancestor
- A Scotchman must be a very sturdy moralist who does not love Scotland better than truth. Better
- All censure of a man's self is oblique praise. It is in order to show how much he can spare. All
- No estimate is more in danger of erroneous calculations than those by which a man computes the force of his own genius. Calculations
- Whoever rises above those who once pleased themselves with equality, will have many malevolent gazers at his eminence. Eminence
- Levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves. Bear
- In civilized society we all depend upon each other, and our happiness is very much owing to the good opinion of mankind. All
- Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say. Been
- You cannot, by all the lecturing in the world, enable a man to make a shoe. All
- There is a certain degree of temptation which will overcome any virtue. Now, in so far as you approach temptation to a man, you do… Any
- Trust as little as you can to report, and examine all you can by your own senses. All
- Every man prefers virtue, when there is not some strong incitement to transgress its precepts. Every Man
- This world, where much is to be done and little to be known. Known
- While an author is yet living, we estimate his powers by his worst performance; and when he is dead, we rate him by his best. Author
- Most vices may be committed very genteelly: a man may debauch his friend's wife genteelly: he may cheat at cards genteelly Cards
- In youth, it is common to measure right and wrong by the opinion of the world, and in age, to act without any measure but… Act
- Sir, I have no objection to a man's drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt to go to excess… According
- To see helpless infancy stretching out her hands, and pouring out her cries in testimony of dependence, without any powers to alarm jealousy, or any… Affection
- Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts… Abilities
- Piety practiced in solitude, like the flower that blooms in the desert, may give its fragrance to the winds of heaven, and delight those unbodied… Action
- I am not able to instruct you. I can only tell that I have chosen wrong. I have passed my time in study without experience;… Able
- No man is much regarded by the rest of the world. He that considers how little he dwells upon the condition of others, will learn… Appears
- Much is due to those who first broke the way to knowledge, and left only to their successors the task of smoothing it. Broke