Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784)
British author, linguist and lexicographer.
It must be agreed that in most ages many countries have had part of their inhabitants in a state of slavery; yet it may be doubted whether slavery can ever be supposed the natural condition of man. It is impossible not to conceive that men in their original state were equal; and very difficult to imagine how one would be subjected to another but by violent compulsion. An individual may, indeed, forfeit his liberty by a crime; but he cannot by that crime forfeit the liberty of his children.
Fly fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
The Churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.
Declamation roared, while Passion slept.
Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.
He who praises everybody praises nobody.
ESSAY — A loose sally of the mind; an irregular indigested piece; not a regular and orderly composition.
It is man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in old age.
It is better to live rich, than to die rich.
There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.
Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords.
Here's to the next insurrection of the negroes in the West Indies.
Sir, I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance.