Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784)
British author, linguist and lexicographer.
In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.
A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated, has not the art of getting drunk.
Nothing[...] will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.
Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.
A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married immediately after his wife died: Johnson said, it was the triumph of hope over experience.
Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does it appear that the happiest lot of terrestrial existence can set us above the want of this general blessing; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not still be wretched, were it not elevated and delighted by the expectation of some new possession, of some enjoyment yet behind, by which the wish shall at last be satisfied, and the heart filled up to its utmost extent.
Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
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 see nothing but spires of temples and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendour, grandeur and magnificence; but when we have passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded with smoke.
Why, Sir, it is difficult to settle the proportion of iniquity between them.
Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed.
Pleasure of itself is not a vice.
If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle.
Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
I'll come no more behind your scenes, David [Garrick]; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities.
Shakspeare never has six lines together without a fault. Perhaps you may find seven: but this does not refute my general assertion.
No man is much pleased with a companion, who does not increase, in some respect, his fondness for himself.
A man sometimes starts up a patriot, only by disseminating discontent, and propagating reports of secret influence, of dangerous counsels, of violated rights, and encroaching usurpation. This practice is no certain note of patriotism. To instigate the populace with rage beyond the provocation, is to suspend publick happiness, if not to destroy it. He is no lover of his country, that unnecessarily disturbs its peace. Few errours and few faults of government, can justify an appeal to the rabble; who ought not to judge of what they cannot understand, and whose opinions are not propagated by reason, but caught by contagion. The fallaciousness of this note of patriotism is particularly apparent, when the clamour continues after the evil is past.
Always, Sir, set a high value on spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship of his own accord, will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you.
I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.
Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.