All Samuel Johnson Quotes
- It is the just doom of laziness and gluttony to be inactive without ease and drowsy without tranquility. Doom
- There is no kind of idleness by which we are so easily seduced as that which dignifies itself by the appearance of business. Appearance
- I soon found that wit, like every other power, has its boundaries; that its success depends upon the aptitude of others to receive impressions; and… Aptitude
- Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you most. Give
- Prudence is an attitude that keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy. Attitude
- No people can be great who have ceased to be virtuous. Ceased
- To expect that the intricacies of science will be pierced by a careless glance, or the eminences of fame ascended without labour, is to expect… Ascended
- Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance. Those that walk with vigor, three hours a day, will pass in seven years a… Circumference
- The inevitable consequence of poverty is dependence. Consequence
- Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas; he that reads books of science, thogh without any fixed… Any
- Criticism, though dignified from the earliest ages by the labours of men eminent for knowledge and sagacity, has not yet attained the certainty and stability… Age
- Even those to whom Providence has allotted greater strength of understanding, can expect only to improve a single science. In every other part of learning,… Able
- Hoc age ['do this'] is the great rule, whether you are serious or merry; whether ... learning science or duty from a folio, or floating… Acts
- I will venture to say there is more learning and science within the circumference of ten miles from where we now sit [in London], than… All
- If a man has a science to learn he must regularly and resolutely advance. Advance
- Nothing has tended more to retard the advancement of science than the disposition in vulgar minds to vilify what they cannot comprehend. Advancement
- There prevails among men of letters, an opinion, that all appearance of science is particularly hateful to Women; and that therefore whoever desires to be… All
- People have now a-days got a strange opinion that every thing should be taught by lectures. Now, I cannot see that lectures can do as… Book
- Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. Abilities
- In a man's letters you know, Madam, his soul lies naked, his letters are only the mirror of his breast, whatever passes within him is… Action
- A short letter to a distant friend is, in my opinion, an insult like that of a slight bow or cursory salutation - a proof… Bow
- Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me. I am sick of both. Boredom
- Smoking is a shocking thing - blowing smoke out of our mouths into other people's mouths, eyes, and noses, and having the same thing done… Blowing
- Courtesy and good humor are often found with little real worth. Courtesy
- A transition from an author's book to his conversation is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant prospect. Remotely, we… Atheism