Samuel Johnson Quotes & Samuel Johnson Sayings

Language is the dress of thought. "Friendship, 'the wine of life,'" said Boswell, "should, like a well-stocked cellar, be thus continually renewed." And Dr. Johnson added to this "A man, Sir, should keep his friendships in constant repair." "I know not any thing more pleasant, or more instructive, than to compare experience with expectation, or to register from time to time the difference between idea and reality. It is by this kind of observation that we grow daily less liable to be disappointed." "It is generally known, that he who expects much will be often disappointed; yet disappointment seldom cures us of expectation, or has any effect other than that of producing a moral sentence or peevish exclamation." "Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it." "Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks." A cow is a very good animal in the field, but we turn her out of a garden. A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization. A family is a little kingdom, torn with factions and exposed to revolutions. A fishing pole is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool on the other A fly is as untamable as a hyena. A fly, Sir, may Sting a stately horse, and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still A jest breaks no bones A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything. A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself. 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 A man will turn over half a library to make one book A man will turn over half a library to make one book. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair. A second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience. A tree might be a show in Scotland as a horse in Venice A wicked fellow is the most pious when he takes to it. He'll beat you all at piety. A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, Fortune and favor cannot satisfy him Actions are visible, though motives are secret Advertisements are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused, and it is therefore become necessary to gain attention by magnificence of promises and by eloquence sometimes sublime and sometimes pathetick. Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own All intellectual improvement arises from leisure All power of fancy over reason is a degree of madness All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if Fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it. All wonder is the effect of novelty on ignorance Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble. Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applause which he cannot keep. Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applauses which he cannot keep; so that scarcely can two persons meet, but one is offended or diverted by the ostentation of the other Always set 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. As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly. As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly. As the Spanish Proverb says, ''He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.'' So it is in travelling; a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge. Authors and lovers always suffer some infatuation, from which only absence can set them free. Avarice is generally the last passion of those lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition Beauty has often overpowered the resolutions of the firm, and the reasonings of the wise, roused the old to sensibility, and subdued the rigorous to softness Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned. Being reproached for giving to an unworthy person, Aristotle said, ''I did not give it to the man, but to humanity. Boswell: That, Sir, was great fortitude of mind. Johnson: No, Sir, stark insensibility. By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show By taking a second wife he pays the highest compliment to the first, by showing that she made him so happy as a married man, that he wishes to be so a second time. Catch, then, oh catch the transient hour; Improve each moment as it flies! Life's a short summer, man a flower; He dies - alas! how soon he dies! Censure is willingly indulged, because it always implies some superiority: men please themselves with imagining that they have made a deeper search, or wider survey than others, and detected faults and follies which escape vulgar observation. Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity. Classical quotation is a parole of literary men all over the world. Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world. Combinations of wickedness would overwhelm the world by the advantage which licentious principles afford, did not those who have long practiced perfidy grow faithless to each other Composition is, for the most part, an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverance, to which the mind is dragged by necessity or resolution, and from which the attention is every moment starting to more delightful amusements. Confidence is a plant of slow growth; especially in an aged bosom Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of The Others. Courtesy and good humor are often found with little real worth Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense. He whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity by the name of a critic. Critics, like the rest of mankind, are very frequently misled by interest Cruel with guilt, and daring with despair, the midnight murderer bursts the faithless bar; invades the sacred hour of silent rest and leaves, unseen, a dagger in your breast. Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind. Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true. Disappointment, when it involves neither shame nor loss, is as good as success; for it supplies as many images to the mind, and as many topics to the tongue. Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye. Do it now. You become successful the moment you start moving toward a worthwhile goal. Do not accustom yourself to use big words for little matters. Do not hope wholly to reason away your troubles; do not feed them with attention, and they will die imperceptibly away. Fix your thoughts upon your business, fill your intervals with company, and sunshine will again break in upon your mind. Dogs have not the power of comparing. A dog will take a small piece of meat as readily as a large, when both are before him. Don't think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drive into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark. Don't think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. 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. Every man has some favorite topic of conversation, on which, by a feigned seriousness of attention, he may be drawn to expatiate without end Every man who attacks my belief, diminishes in some degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneasy; and I am angry with him who makes me uneasy. Every man wishes to be wise, and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning. Every other enjoyment malice may destroy; every other panegyric envy may withhold; but no human power can deprive the boaster of his own encomiums. Every quotation contributes something to the stability or enlargement of the language. Fear is implanted in us as a preservative from evil but its duty, like that of other passions, is not to overbear reason, but to assist it. It should not be suffered to tyrannize in the imagination, to raise phantoms of horror, or to beset life with supernumerary distresses. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance. Fine clothes are good only as they supply the want of other means of procuring respect For my part, Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious For sorrow there is no remedy provided by nature; it is often occasioned by accidents irreparable, and dwells upon objects that have lost or changed their existence; it requires what it cannot hope, that the laws of the universe should be repealed; Friendship is a union of spirits, a marriage of hearts, and the bond there of virtue Friendship is not always the sequel of obligation Friendship, like love, is destroyed by long absence, though it may be increased by short intermissions Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance, and the parent of Liberty Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance, and the parent of Liberty. Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance Grief is a species of idleness. He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty He that hopes to look back hereafter with satisfaction upon past years must learn to know the present value of single minutes, and endeavour to let no particle of time fall useless to the ground He that is pushing his predecessors into the gulf of obscurity, cannot but sometimes suspect, that he must himself sink in like manner, and, as he stands upon the same precipice, be swept away with the same violence He that suffers the slightest breach in his morality can seldom tell what shall enter it, or how wide it shall be made; when a passage is open, the influx of corruption is every moment wearing down opposition, and by slow degrees deluges the heart He that tries to recommend (Shakespeare) by select quotations, will succeed like the pedant in "Hierocles", who, when he offered his house to sale, carried a brick in his pocket as a specimen He that would be superior to external influences must first become superior to his own passions. He who does not mind his belly will hardly will hardly mind anything else. He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts. He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man. His (a player's) conversation usually threatened and announced more than it performed; that he fed you with a continual renovation of hope, to end in a constant succession of disappointment Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords: but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain; and expectations improperly indulged must end in disappointment. Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords: but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain; and expectations improperly indulged, must end in disappointment. If it be asked, what is the improper expectation which it is dangerous to indulge, experience will quickly answer, that it is such expectation as is dictated not by reason, but by desire; expectation raised, not by the common occurrences of life, but by the wants of the expectant; an expectation that requires the common course of things to be changed, and the general rules of action to be broken. Hope is necessary in every condition. Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness, of captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable. Hope itself is a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords; but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain. How can children credit the assertions of parents, which their own eyes show them to be false? Few parents act in such a manner as much to enforce their maxims by the credit of their lives Human benevolence is mingled with vanity, interest, or some other motive I am not able to instruct you. I can only tell that I have chosen wrong. I have passed my time in study without experience; in the attainment of sciences which can, for the most part, be but remotely useful to mankind. I have purchased knowledge at the expense of all the common comforts of life: I have missed the endearing elegance of female friendship, and the happy commerce of domestic tenderness. I am not so much inclined to wonder that marriage is sometimes unhappy, as that it appears so little loaded with calamity; and cannot but conclude that society has something in itself eminently agreeable to human nature, when I find its pleasures so I am willing to love all mankind, except an American I believe marriages would in general be as happy, and often more so, if they were all made by the Lord Chancellor, upon a due consideration of characters and circumstances, without the parties having any choice in the matter I can't drink a little, therefore I never touch it. Abstinance is as easy for me as tempreance would be difficult. I found you essay to be good and original. However, the part that was original was not good and the part that was good was not original. I hate mankind, for I think myself to be one of them, and I know how bad I am. I have always said, the first Whig was the Devil I have ever since (his wife's death) seemed to myself broken off from mankind; a kind of solitary wanderer in the wild of life, without any direction, or fixed point of view: a gloomy gazer on the world to which I have little relation I have observed, that in comedy, the best actor plays the part of the droll, while some scrub rogue is made the hero, or fine gentleman. So, in this farce of life, wise men pass their time in mirth, whilst fools only are serious. I know not anything more pleasant, or more instructive, than to compare experience with expectation, or to register from time to time the difference between idea and reality. It is by this kind of observation that we grow daily less liable to be disappointed. I know not, Madam, that you have a right, upon moral principles, to make your readers suffer so much. I know not, that by living dissections any discovery has been made by which a single malady is more easily cured. I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works. An assault upon a town is a bad thing; but starving it is still worse. I'll come no more behind your scenes, David; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone. A man should keep his friendships in constant repair. If a man who turnips cries, / Cry not when his father dies, / 'Tis a proof that he had rather/ Have a turnip than a father. If in an actor there appears an utter vacancy of meaning, a frigid equality, a stupid languor, a torpid apathy, the greatest kindness that can be shown him is a speedy sentence of expulsion If what appears little be universally despised, nothing greater can be attained; for all that is great was at first little, and rose to its present bulk by gradual accessions and accumulated labours 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 by perseverance. Ignorance cannot always be inferred from inaccuracy; knowledge is not always present In a course of drunken gaiety and gross sensuality, with intervals of study perhaps yet more criminal, with an avowed contempt of decency and order, a total disregard to every moral, and a resolute denial of every religious observation, he lived worthless and useless, and blazed out his youth and health in lavish voluptuousness. 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 shown undisguised in its natural process. Nothing is inverted, nothing distorted, you see systems in their elements, you discover actions in their motives. In all pleasure hope is a considerable part In order that all men may be taught to speak the truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it In the bottle discontent seeks for comfort, cowardice for courage, and bashfulness for confidence In travelling, a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. Is getting a hundred thousand pounds a proof of excellence? That has been done by a scoundrel commissary Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? It deserves to be considered, whether the want of that which can never be gained, may not easily be endured It is a hopeless endeavour to unite the contrarieties of spring and winter; it is unjust to claim the privileges of age, and retain the play-things of childhood It is a man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grow torpid in old age It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality. It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt. It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust. It is easy to talk of sitting at home contented, when others are seeing or making shows. But not to have been where it is supposed, and seldom supposed falsely, that all would go if they could; to be able to say nothing when everyone is talking; to have no opinion when everyone is judging; to hear exclamations of rapture without power to depress; to listen to falsehoods without right to contradict, is, after all, a state of temporary inferiority, in which the mind is rather hardened by stubbornness, than supported by fortitude. If the world be worth winning let us enjoy it, if it is to be despised let us despise it by conviction. But the world is not to be despised but as it is compared with something better. It is generally agreed, that few men are made better by affluence or exaltation. It is generally known, that he who expects much will be often disappointed; yet disappointment seldom cures us of expectation, or has any effect other than that of producing a moral sentence or peevish exclamation It is indeed not easy to distinguish affectation from habit; he that has once studiously developed a style, rarely writes afterwards with complete ease It is no less a proof of eminence to have many enemies than many friends It is reasonable to have perfection in our eye that we may always advance toward it, though we know it can never be reached. Judgment is forced upon us by experience Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not. Knock the "t" off the "can't." Knowledge is more than equivalent to force. Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it. Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas: I wish, however, that the instrument might be less apt to decay, and that signs might be permanent, like the things they denote Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas: I wish, however, that the instrument might be less apt to decay, and that signs might be permanent, like the things they denote. Language is the dress of thought. Let him who desires to see others happy, make haste to give while his gift can be enjoyed, and remember that every moment of delay takes away something from the value of his benefaction Let no man rashly determine, that his unwillingness to be pleased is a proof of understanding, unless his superiority appears from less doubtful evidence; for though peevishness may sometimes justly boast its descent from learning or from wit, it is LEXICOGRAPHER: a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words. Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified. Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions. Life has no pleasure higher or nobler than that of friendship Life is a pill which none of us can bear to swallow without gilding. Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent. Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise. Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments. Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it. Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance. Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures. Marriage is the triumph of hope over experience. Marriage, Sir, is much more necessary to a man than to a woman; for he is much less able to supply himself with domestick comforts Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult Men hate more steadily than they love; and if I have said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the better of this by saying many things to please him Men know that women are an over-match for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves. More knowledge may be gained of a man's real character by a short conversation with one of his servants than from a formal and studied narrative, begun with his pedigree and ended with his funeral. Music is the only sensual pleasure without vice My dear friend, clear your mind of can't. My Dear Sir: Are you playing the same trick again, and trying who can keep silence longest? Remember that all tricks are either knavish or childish; and that it is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend as upon the chastity o Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little. No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it. There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that will keep us safe under every form of government. No man will be found in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes tyrannize, and force him to hope or fear beyond the limits of sober probability. No mind is much employed upon the present: recollection and anticipation fill up almost all our moments No people can be great who have ceased to be virtuous. No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library. No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library; for who can see the wall crowded on every side by mighty volumes, the works of laborious meditations and accurate inquiry, now scarcely known but by the c No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes, than a public library. No, Sir, you will have much more influence by giving or lending money where it is wanted, than by hospitality None but a fool worries about things he cannot influence. Notes are often necessary, but they are necessary evils. Nothing is more hopeless than a scheme of merriment Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome. Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable. Of all the griefs that harass the distressed, sure the most bitter is a scornful jest Of the innumerable authors whose performances are thus treasured up in magnificent obscurity (in a library), most are forgotten, because they never deserved to be remembered Of those that spin out trifles and die without a memorial, many flatter themselves with high opinions of their own importance, and imagine that they are every day adding some improvement to human life Old soldiers never die, they just fade away. One of the most pernicious effects of haste is obscurity Order is a lovely nymph, the child of Beauty and Wisdom; her attendants are Comfort, Neatness, and Activity; her abode is the valley of happiness: she is always to be found when sought for, and never appears so lovely as when contrasted with her opponent, Disorder. Our aspirations are our possibilities. Pain is less subject than pleasure to careless expression. Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Players, Sir! I look upon them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint-stools to make faces and produce laughter, like dancing dogs Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. Pleasure that is obtained by unreasonable and unsuitable cost, must always end in pain. Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth. Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument Promise, large promise, is the soul of an Advertisement. Prudence keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy. Quotation is a good thing, there is a community of thought in it Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out. Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged. Round numbers are always false Round numbers are always false. Seldom any splendid story is wholly true. Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings. Sex: the expense is damnable, the position is ridiculous, and the pleasure fleeting. Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God. Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say. Sir, he throws away his money without thought and without merit. I do not call a tree generous that sheds its fruit at every breeze. Sir, I have found you an argument. I am not obliged to find you an understanding. Sir, I have no objection to a man's drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt to go to excess in it, and therefore, after having been for some time without it, on account of illness, I thought it better not to return to it. Every man is to judge for himself, according to the effects which he experiences. Sir, it is burning a farthing candle at Dover, to shew a light at Calais Sir, that all who are happy, are equally happy, is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness. Sir, the noblest prospect that a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to London. Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea Slavery is now no where more patiently endured, than in countries once inhabited by the zealots of liberty 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 to us. So many qualities are indeed requisite to the possibility of friendship, and so many accidents must concur to its rise and its continuance, that the greatest part of mankind content themselves without it, and supply its place as they can, with intere Some people have a foolish way of not minding, or pretending not to mind, what they eat. For my part, I mind my belly very studiously, and very carefully; for I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else. Some people have a foolish way of not minding, or pretending not to mind, what they eat. For my part, I mind my belly very studiously, and very carefully; for I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind anything else. Sorrow is a kind of rust of the soul, which every new idea contributes in its passage to scour away. It is the putrefaction of stagnant life, and is remedied by exercise and motion. Study requires solitude, and solitude is a state dangerous to those who are too much accustomed to sink into themselves Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden exchange meeting by chance, or brought together by artifice, exchange glances, reciprocate civilities, go home, and dream of one another. Having little to divert attention, or diversify thought, they find themselves uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness had before concealed; they wear out life in altercations, and charge nature with cruelty. Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next wish is to change again. The world is not yet exhausted; let me see something tomorrow which I never saw be Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence. That is the happiest conversation where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm, quiet interchange of sentiments That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own self-esteem That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona That we must all die, we always knew; I wish I had remembered it sooner The advice that is wanted is commonly not welcome and that which is not wanted, evidently an effrontery. The age being now past of vagrant excursion and fortuitous hostility, he was under the necessity of travelling from court to court, scorned and repulsed as a wild projector, an idle promiser of kingdoms in the clouds; nor has any part of the world y The arguments for purity of life fail of their due influence, not because they have been considered and confuted, but because they have been passed over without consideration The basis of all excellence is truth: he that professes love ought to feel its power. The blaze of reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies in the socket; a very few names may be considered as perpetual lamps that shine unconsumed. The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken The desire of advising has a very extensive prevalence; and, since advice cannot be given but to those that will hear it, a patient listener is necessary to the accommodation of all those who desire to be confirmed in the opinion of their own wisdom: a patient listener, however, is not always to be had; the present age, whatever age is present, is so vitiated and disordered, that young people are readier to talk than to attend, and good counsel is only thrown away upon those who are full of their own perfections. The excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some useful truth in few words. The faults of a writer of acknowledged excellence are more dangerous, because the influence of his example is more extensive; and the interest of learning requires that they should be discovered and stigmatized, before they have the sanction of antiq The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne. The future is purchased by the present The great community of mankind is necessarily broken into smaller independent societies; these form distinct interests, which are too frequently opposed to each other, and which they who have entered into The League of particular governments falsely The great effect of friendship is beneficence, yet by the first act of uncommon kindness it is endangered. The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book. The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book. The habit of looking on the bright side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a year. The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered, but a general effect of pleasing impression. The insolence of wealth will creep out The joy of life is variety; the tenderest love requires to be rekindled by intervals of absence The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public The liberty of the press is a blessing when we are inclined to write against others, and a calamity when we find ourselves overborne by the multitude of our assailants The lustre of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue The mind is seldom quickened to very vigorous operations but by pain, or the dread of pain. We do not disturb ourselves with the detection of fallacies which do us no harm. The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and art are ransacked for illustrations, comparisons, and allusions; their learning instructs, and their subtlety surprises; but the reader commonly thinks his improvement dearly bought and, though he sometimes admires, is seldom pleased. The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure but from hope to hope. The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope The natural progress of the works of men is from rudeness to convenience, from convenience to elegance, and from elegance to nicety The pleasure of expecting enjoyment is often greater than that of obtaining it, and the completion of almost every wish is found a disappointment The purpose of a writer is to be read, and the criticism which would destroy the power of pleasing must be blown aside The seeds of knowledge may be planted in solitude, but must be cultivated in public The trade of advertising is now so near perfection that it is not easy to propose any improvement. But as every art ought to be exercised in due subordination to the public good, I cannot but propose it as a moral question to these masters of the public ear, whether they do not sometimes play too wantonly with our passions. The traveler that resolutely follows a rough and winding path will sooner reach the end of his journey than he that is always changing his direction, and wastes the hour of daylight in looking for smoother ground and shorter passages. The triumph of hope over experience The true art of memory is the art of attention. The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new. The two offices of memory are collection and distribution. The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are. The usual Fortune for complaint is to excite contempt more than pity The vicious count their years; virtuous, their acts. There are few doors through which liberality, joined with good humor, cannot find its way There are few things that we so unwillingly give up, even in advanced age, as the supposition that we still have the power of ingratiating ourselves with the fair sex. There are indeed, in the present corruption of mankind, many incitements to forsake truth: the need of palliating our own faults and the convenience of imposing on the ignorance or credulity of others so frequently occur; so many immediate evils are There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits not because recompense is a pleasure for them, but because obligation is a pain. There are minds which easily sink into submission, that look on grandeur with undistinguishing reverence, and discover no defect where there is elevation of rank and affluence of riches There are multitudes whose life is nothing but a continuous lottery; who are always within a few months of plenty and happiness, and how often soever they are mocked with blanks, expect a prize from the next adventure There are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking; as there are fruits that are not good until they are rotten. There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified and new prejudices to be opposed. There can be no friendship without confidence, an no confidence without integrity. There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity. There is no observation more frequently made by such as employ themselves in surveying the conduct of mankind, than that marriage, though the dictate of nature, and the institution of Providence, is yet very often the cause of misery, and that those who enter into that state can seldom forbear to express their repentance, and their envy of those whom either chance or caution hath withheld from it. There is no wisdom in useless and hopeless sorrow There is no wisdom in useless and hopeless sorrow, but there is something in it so like virtue, that he who is wholly without it cannot be loved. There is nothing that exasperates people more than a display of superior ability or brilliance in conversation. They seem pleased at the time, but their envy makes them curse the conversationalist in their heart. There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern. There is scarcely any writer who has not celebrated the happiness of rural privacy, and delighted himself and his reader with the melody of birds, the whisper of groves, and the murmur of rivulets. There lurks, perhaps, in every human heart a desire of distinction, which inclines every man first to hope, and then to believe, that Nature has given him something peculiar to himself. There mark what ills the scholar's life assail, toil, envy, want, and patron. There must always be a struggle between a father and son, while one aims at power and the other at independence They teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing-master They that have grown old in a single state are generally found to be morose, fretful and captious; tenacious of their own practices and maxims; soon offended by contradiction or negligence; and impatient of any association but with those that will watch their nod, and submit themselves to unlimited authority. Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be. This doctrine (of ruling passions) is in itself pernicious as well as false: its tendency is to produce the belief of a kind of moral predestination, or overruling principle which cannot be resisted; he that admits it, is prepared to comply with ever This is my history; like all other histories, a narrative of misery. This is one of the disadvantages of wine: it makes a man mistake words for thought. This merriment of parsons is mighty offensive. Those authors who would find many readers, must endeavour to please while they instruct Those who are in the power of evil habits must conquer them as they can; and conquered they must be, or neither wisdom nor happiness can be attained: but those who are not yet subject to their influence may, by timely caution, preserve their freedom; Those who attain to any excellence commonly spend life in some single pursuit, for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms. Those who do not feel pain seldom think that it is felt Those who have any intention of deviating from the beaten roads of life, and acquiring a reputation superior to names hourly swept away by time among the refuse of fame, should add to their reason and their spirit the power of persisting in their pur To a poet nothing can be useless To be driven by external motives from the path which our heart approves, to give way to any thing but conviction, to suffer the opinion of others to rule our choice or overpower our resolves, is to submit tamely to the lowest and most ignominious sla To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition. To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition; the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavors with his utmost care to hide his poverty from others, and his idleness from himself. To cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. To embarrass justice by a multiplicity of laws, or to hazard it by confidence in judges, are the opposite rocks on which all civil institutions have been wrecked, and between which legislative wisdom has never yet found an open passage To excite opposition and inflame malevolence is the unhappy privilege of courage made arrogant by consciousness of strength To expect that the intricacies of science will be pierced by a careless glance, or the eminences of fame ascended without labor, is to expect a peculiar privilege, a power denied to the rest of mankind; but to suppose that the maze is inscrutable to To get a name can happen but to few; it is one of the few things that cannot be brought. It is the free gift of mankind, which must be deserved before it will be granted, and is at last unwillingly bestowed. To hear complaints with patience, even when complaints are vain, is one of the duties of friendship To improve the golden moment of opportunity, and catch the good that is within our reach, is the great art of life. To improve the golden moments of opportunity and catch the good that is within our reach, is the great art of living To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage. To preserve health is a moral and religious duty, for health is the basis of all social virtues. We can no longer be useful when we are not well. To push advantages too far is neither generous nor just To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity. Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand, than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties Too much vigor in the beginning of an undertaking often intercepts and prevents the steadiness and perseverance always necessary in the conduct of a complicated scheme Try and forget our cares and sickness, and contribute, as we can to the happiness of each other. Turn on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes. Observe her labors, sluggard, and be wise. We all live in the hope of pleasing somebody; and the pleasure of pleasing ought to be greatest, and always will be greatest, when our endeavors are exerted in consequence of our duty We are all prompted by the same motives, all deceived by the same fallacies, all animated by hope, obstructed by danger, entangled by desire, and seduced by pleasure We are easily shocked by crimes which appear at once in their full magnitude, but the gradual growth of our own wickedness, endeared by interest, and palliated by all the artifices of self-deceit, gives us time to form distinctions in our own favor, We frequently fall into error and folly, not because the true principles of action are not known, but because, for a time, they are not remembered; and he may therefore be justly numbered among the benefactors of mankind who contracts the great rules We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting. We may examine, indeed, but we never can decide, because our faculties are unequal to the subject: we see a little, and form an opinion; we see more, and change it We owe to memory not only the increase of our knowledge, and our progress in rational inquiries, but many other intellectual pleasures What I learned from being in France was learning to be better satisfied with my own country What is easy is seldom excellent. What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure. What signifies protesting so against flattery! when a person speaks well of one, it must either be true or false, you know; if true, let us rejoice in his good opinion; if he lies, it is a proof at least that he loves more to please me, than to sit s What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence. Whatever enlarges hope will also exalt courage Whatever is attempted without previous certainty of success, may be considered as a project, and amongst narrow minds may, therefore, expose its author to censure and contempt; and if the liberty of laughing be once indulged, every man will laugh at When a friend is carried to his grave, we at once find excuses for every weakness, and palliations of every fault; we recollect a thousand endearments which before glided off our minds without impression, a thousand favors unrepaid, a thousand dutie When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. When a man says he had pleasure with a woman he does not mean conversation. When any calamity has been suffered, the first thing to be remembered is how much has been escaped When I observed he was a fine cat, saying, 'why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this'; and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, 'but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.' When I was as you are now, towering in the confidence of 21, little did I suspect that I should be at 49, what I now am. When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and most timorous malignity, if not to take away his satisfaction, at least to withhold it. When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and most timorous malignity, if not to take away his satisfaction, at least to withhold it. His enemies may indulge their pride by airy negligence and gratify their malice by quiet neutrality. When once the forms of civility are violated, there remains little hope of return to kindness or decency When speculation has done its worst, two and two still make four When the eye or the imagination is struck with an uncommon work, the next transition of an active mind is to the means by which it was performed Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off Where there is no difficulty there is no praise Where there is no hope there can be no endeavor While an author is yet living we estimate his powers by his worst performance, and when he is dead we rate them by his best While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it. Whoever envies another confesses his superiority. Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o'clock is a scoundrel. Whoever thinks of going; to bed before ten o'clock is a scoundrel 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. Wine gives a man nothing... it only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost. Wise married women don't trouble themselves about infidelity in their husbands With regard to the sharpest and most melting sorrow, that which arises from the loss of those whom we have loved with tenderness, it may be observed, that friendship between mortals can be contracted on no other terms than that one must some time mou You hesitate to stab me with a word, and know not - silence is the sharper sword You hesitate to stab me with a word, and know not - silence is the sharper sword. You teach your daughters the diameters of the planets and wonder when you are done that they do not delight in your company 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. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the parts that are good are not original, and the parts that are original are not good. [W]ith an unquiet mind, neither exercise, nor diet, nor physick can be of much use.