Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784)
British author, linguist and lexicographer.
Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.
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 ready to his hand; so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is not required in any high degree; only about as much as is used in the lower kinds of poetry.
It ought to be deeply impressed on the minds of all who have voices in this national deliberation, that no man can deserve a seat in parliament, who is not a patriot. No other man will protect our rights: no other man can merit our confidence.
A patriot is he whose publick conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country; who, as an agent in parliament, has, for himself, neither hope nor fear, neither kindness nor resentment, but refers every thing to the common interest.
I have, all my life long, been lying till noon; yet I tell all young men, and tell them with great sincerity, that nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good.
A man may be so much of every thing, that he is nothing of any thing.
The joy of life is variety; the tenderest love requires to be renewed by intervals of absence.
No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
A lady once asked him how he came to define 'pastern', the knee of a horse: instead of making an elaborate defence, as might be expected, he at once answered, "Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance."
Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.
Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow; attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.
That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?
I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark..
The student who would build his knowledge on solid foundations, and proceed by just degrees to the pinnacles of truth, is directed by the great philosopher of France to begin by doubting of his own existence. In like manner, whoever would complete any arduous and intricate enterprise, should, as soon as his imagination can cool after the first blaze of hope, place before his own eyes every possible embarrassment that may retard or defeat him. He should first question the probability of success, and then endeavour to remove the objections that he has raised.
Life admits not of delays; when pleasure can be had, it is fit to catch it. Every hour takes away part of the things that please us, and perhaps part of our disposition to be pleased.
It is very strange, and very melancholy, that the paucity of human pleasures should persuade us ever to call hunting one of them.
A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing, when he has nothing to say.
Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,
Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?
Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.