Samuel Johnson
England
18 Sep 1709 // 13 Dec 1784
Writer
18 Sep 1709 // 13 Dec 1784
Writer
Quotes
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Moderation is commonly firm, and firmness is commonly successful
Men who cannot deceive others are very often successful at deceiving themselves
Men seldom give pleasure when they are not pleased themselves
Men become friends by a community of pleasures
Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures
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
Man's chief merit consists in resisting the impulses of his nature
Life is a pill which none of us can bear to swallow without gilding
Life has no pleasure higher or nobler than that of friendship
Justice is indispensably and universally necessary, and what is necessary must always be limited, uniform, and distinct
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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