Samuel Johnson
England
18 Sep 1709 // 13 Dec 1784
Writer
18 Sep 1709 // 13 Dec 1784
Writer
Quotes
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An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere
All truth is valuable, and satirical criticism may be considered as useful when it rectifies error and improves judgment; he that refines the public taste is a public benefactor
All intellectual improvement arises from leisure
Advice is offensive, it shows us that we are known to others as well as to ourselves
Actions are visible, though motives are secret
A successful author is equally in danger of the diminution of his fame, whether he continues or ceases to write
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 had rather have a hundred lies told of him than one truth which he does not wish should be told
A country is in a bad state, which is governed only by laws; because a thousand things occur for which laws cannot provide, and where authority ought to interpose
You never find people laboring to convince you that you may live very happily upon a plentiful income
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays
Essays