Samuel Johnson
England
18 Sep 1709 // 13 Dec 1784
Writer
18 Sep 1709 // 13 Dec 1784
Writer
Quotes
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We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting
We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself
We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us
Treating your adversary with respect is striking soft in battle
To love one that is great, is almost to be great one's self
To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly
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
Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms
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
There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either
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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