All Samuel Johnson Quotes
- Diligence in employments of less consequence is the most successful introduction to greater enterprises. Consequence
- The imitator treads a beaten walk, and with all his diligence can only find a few flowers or branches untouched by his predecessor, the refuse… All
- When desperate ills demand a speedy cure, Distrust is cowardice, and prudence folly. Cowardice
- A certain amount of distrust is wholesome, but not so much of others as of ourselves; neither vanity not conceit can exist in the same… Amount
- A tavern chair is the throne of human felicity. Chair
- All envy is proportionate to desire. All
- I wish there were some cure, like the lover's leap, for all heads of which some single idea has obtained an unreasonable and irregular possession. All
- Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea. Flea
- The lust of gold succeeds the rage of conquest; The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless! The last corruption of degenerate man. Conquest
- Guilt has always its horrors and solicitudes; and, to make it yet more shameful and detestable, it is doomed often to stand in awe of… Awe
- Like an image in a dream the world is troubled by love, hatred, and other poisons. So long as the dream lasts, the image appears… Appears
- The history of mankind is little else than a narrative of designs which have failed and hopes that have been disappointed. Been
- A man should be careful never to tell tales of himself to his own disadvantage. People may be amused at the time, but they will… Amused
- Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy. Burden
- Every man is, or hopes to be, an idler. Every Man
- Gloomy calm of idle vacancy. Calm
- Idleness and timidity often despair without being overcome, and forbear attempts for fear of being defeated; and we may promote the invigoration of faint endeavors,… Attempts
- Jesting, often, only proves a want of intellect. Inspirational
- Of all the griefs that harass the distress'd, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest; Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart, Than… All
- Nothing is more common than to find men, whose works are now totally neglected, mentioned with praises by their contemporaries as the oracles of their… Age
- London! the needy villain's general home, The common sewer of Paris and of Rome! With eager thirst, by folly or by fate, Sucks in the… Common
- Luxury, so far as it reaches the people, will do good to the race of people; it will strengthen and multiply them. Sir, no nation… Ever Hurt
- A good wife is like the ivy which beautifies the building to which it clings, twining its tendrils more lovingly as time converts the ancient… Ancient
- I believe marriages would in general be as happy, and often more so, if they were all made by the lord chancellor, upon a due… All
- It is one of the maxims of the civil law, that definitions are hazardous. Civil