Quotations From SAMUEL JOHNSON

» More about Samuel Johnson on Poemhunter

• 31.

  Why, Sir, most schemes of political improvement are very laughable things.

  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), British author, lexicographer. quoted in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, Oct. 26, 1769 (1791).
• 32.

  Self-love is often rather arrogant than blind; it does not hide our faults from ourselves, but persuades us that they escape the notice of others.

  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), British author, lexicographer. repr. in Works of Samuel Johnson, vol. 5, eds. W.J. Bate and Albrecht B. Strauss (1969). Rambler (London, Sept. 10, 1751), no. 155.
  
  Read more quotations about / on: love
• 33.

  He that fails in his endeavours after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), British author, lexicographer. repr. in Works of Samuel Johnson, vol. 2, eds. W.J. Bate, John M. Bullitt, and L.F. Powell, 1963). Adventurer, no. 99 (October 16, 1753).
  
  Read more quotations about / on: honesty, courage, power
• 34.

  There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.

  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), British author, lexicographer. Quoted in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, March 27, 1775 (1791).
  
  Read more quotations about / on: money
• 35.

  Sir, a man who cannot get to heaven in a green coat, will not find his way thither the sooner in a grey one.

  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), British author, lexicographer. repr. In Johnsonian Miscellanies, vol. 1, p. 222, ed. George Birkbeck Hill (1891). Quoted in Hester Piozzi, Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson (1786).
  
  Read more quotations about / on: green, heaven
• 36.

  The world will never be long without some good reason to hate the unhappy; their real faults are immediately detected, and if those are not sufficient to sink them into infamy, an additional weight of calumny will be superadded.

  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), British author, lexicographer. repr. in The Works of Samuel Johnson, vol. 2, eds. W.J. Bate, John M. Bullitt and L.F. Powell (1963). Adventurer (London, Oct. 16, 1753), no. 99.
  
  Read more quotations about / on: hate, world
• 37.

  The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.

  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), British author, lexicographer. quoted in James Boswell, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, entry, Oct. 24, 1773 (1785).
  
  Read more quotations about / on: life
• 38.

  A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.

  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), British author, lexicographer. Quoted in Johnsonian Miscellanies, vol. 2, p. 11, ed. George Birkbeck Hill (1897). "Apophthegms," vol. 11, Works, ed. John Hawkins (1787-1789).
• 39.

  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.

  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), British author, lexicographer. Letter, May 1, 1780, to Hester Thrale. Quoted in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson (1791).
  
  Read more quotations about / on: shine
• 40.

  Abstinence is as easy to me, as temperance would be difficult.

  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), British author, lexicographer. Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs. Hannah More, vol. 1, ed. William Roberts (1834).