Samuel Johnson Quotes - Page 2

• When once the forms of civility are violated, there remains little hope of return to kindness or decency.

  Samuel Johnson

  Kindness, Littles, Return

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1837). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.95

  72 Copy quote

• To preserve health is a moral and religious duty: for health is the basis of all social virtues; and we can be useful no longer than while we are well.

  Samuel Johnson

  Religious, Health, Exercise

  "The Letters of Samuel Johnson, Volume I: 1731-1772".

  26 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Johnson

  Science, Belief, Favourite

  15 Copy quote

• Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.

  Samuel Johnson

  Nature, Women, Maturity

  Letter to John Taylor, 18 Aug. 1763

  33 Copy quote

• The really happy woman is the one who can enjoy the scenery when she has to take a detour. Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but rather a manner of traveling.

  Samuel Johnson

  Detours, States, Enjoy

  15 Copy quote

• Our aspirations are our possibilities.

  Samuel Johnson

  Dream, Soulmate, Wish

  49 Copy quote

• He who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything.

  Samuel Johnson

  Kindness, Waiting, Charity

  23 Copy quote

• What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.

  Samuel Johnson

  Success, Dance, Life And Love

  Samuel Johnson (1831). “The Lives of the English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works and Lives of Sundry Eminent Persons”, p.47

  37 Copy quote

• When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

  Samuel Johnson

  Carpe Diem, Men, Focus

  Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 19 Sept. 1777)

  101 Copy quote

• Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o'clock is a scoundrel.

  Samuel Johnson

  Night, Thinking, Bed

  Samuel Johnson (1787). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Together with His Life, and Notes on His Lives of the Poets, by Sir John Hawkins, Knt. In Eleven Volumes ...”, p.211

  37 Copy quote

• The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it.

  Samuel Johnson

  Wisdom, Knowledge, Knowing

  15 Copy quote

• None but a fool worries about things he cannot influence.

  Samuel Johnson

  Worry, Fool, Influence

  15 Copy quote

• Each person's work is always a portrait of himself.

  Samuel Johnson

  Success, Portraits, Persons

  25 Copy quote

• Liberty is, to the lowest rank of every nation, little more than the choice of working or starving.

  Samuel Johnson

  Choices, Liberty, Littles

  'The Bravery of the English Common Soldier' in 'The British Magazine' January 1760 (Yale ed., vol. 10, p. 283)

  19 Copy quote

• Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself, and don't think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire.

  Samuel Johnson

  Inspirational, Strength, Retirement

  77 Copy quote

• A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

  Samuel Johnson

  Writing, Men, Political

  80 Copy quote

• My dear friend, clear your mind of can't.

  Samuel Johnson

  Mind, Complacency, Dear Friend

  Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 15 May 1783)

  44 Copy quote

• If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

  Samuel Johnson

  Motivational, Perseverance, Determination

  Samuel Johnson (1834). “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia: A Tale”, p.14

  29 Copy quote

• Bachelors have consciences, married men have wives.

  Samuel Johnson

  Marriage, Men, Wife

  12 Copy quote

• Advice is seldom welcome. Those who need it most, like it least.

  Samuel Johnson

  Advice, Needs, Welcome

  12 Copy quote

• People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.

  Samuel Johnson

  Business, People, Needs

  10 Copy quote

• What ever the motive for the insult, it is always best to overlook it; for folly doesn't deserve resentment, and malice is punished by neglect.

  Samuel Johnson

  Revenge, Resentment, Insult

  16 Copy quote

• Men who stand in the highest ranks of society seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction and obtund remorse.

  Samuel Johnson

  Men, Hands, Opiates

  Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.65

  18 Copy quote

• Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.

  Samuel Johnson

  Love, Wise, Dream

  In William Cooke 'Life of Samuel Foote' (1805) vol. 2, p. 154

  25 Copy quote

• Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

  Samuel Johnson

  Education, Honesty, Integrity

  'Rasselas' (1759) ch. 41

  56 Copy quote

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