Quotes from Samuel Johnson

AMBIDEXTER  (AMBIDE'XTER)   n.s.[Lat.]1. A man who has equally the use of both his hands. Rodiginus, undertaking to give a reason of ambidexters, and left-handed men, deliverth a third opinion.Brown'sVul. Err.2. A man who is equally ready to act on either side, in party disputes. This sense is ludicrous.

It is the fate of those who toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect of good;

ADIAPHORY  (ADIA'PHORY)   n.s.[Gr.]Neutrality; indifference.

AGONISTES  (AGONI'STES)   n.s.[   Gr.]A prize-fighter; one that contends at any public solemnity for a prize. Milton has so stiled his tragedy, because Sampson was called out to divert the Philistines with feats of strength.

To go and see one druidical temple is only to see that it is nothing, for there is neither art nor power in it; and seeing one is quite enough.

AMPHISBÆNA  (AMPHISBÆ'NA)   n.s.[Lat.    serpent supposed to have two heads. That the amphisbæna, that is, a smaller kind of serpent, which moveth forward and backward, hath two heads, or one at either extreme, was affirmed by Nicander, and others.Brown'sVulgar Errours,b. iii.

AMBIGU  (A'MBIGU)   n.s.[French.]An entertainment, consisting not of regular courses, but of a medley of dishes set on together. When straiten'd in your time, and servants few,You'd richly then compose an ambigu;Where first and second course, and your desert,All in our single table have their part.King'sArt of Cookery.

Johnson, Collins, Fielding, and Thomson, were certainly four of the most distinguished persons that England produced during the eighteenth century. It is well known that they were all four arrested for debt.

ADIEU  (ADIEU')   adv.[from à Dieu, used elliptically for à Dieu je vous commende, used at the departure of friends.]The form

of English, as of all living tongues, there is a double pronunciation, one cursory and colloquial, the other regular and solemn.

Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?BibleProv.xxvii. 4.

AMBURY  (A'MBURY)   n.s.A bloody wart on any part of a horse's body.

For pronunciation the best general rule is, to consider those as the most elegant speakers who deviate least from the written words.

ANATRON  (A'NATRON)   n.s.The scum which swims upon the molten glass in the furnace, which, when taken off, melts in the air, and then coagulates into common salt. It is likewise that salt which gathers upon the walls of vaults.

See the hell of having a false woman! My bed shall be abused, my coffers ransacked, my reputation gnawn at; and I shall not only receive this villainous wrong, but stand under the adoption of abominable terms, and by him that does me the wrong.Shakesp.Merry Wives of Windsor.2. The

Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny.BibleMatt.xx. 13.5. To

It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm.

If the mind be curbed and humbled too much in children; if their spirits be abased and broken much by too strict an hand over them; they lose all their vigour and industry, and are in a worse state than the former.Lockeon Education,¶ 46.

Every man adheres as long as he can to his own pre-conceptions.

I will venture to say, that in no writings whatever can be found more bark and steel for the mind, if I may use the expression; more that can brace and invigorate every manly and noble sentiment. No. 32 on patience, even under extreme misery, is wonderfully lofty, and as much above the rant of stoicism, as the Sun of Revelation is brighter than the twilight of Pagan philosophy.

I shall neither trouble the reader, nor myself, with any apology for publishing of these sermons; for if they be, in any measure, truly serviceable to the end for which they are designed, I do not see what apology is necessary; and if they be not so, I am sure none can be sufficient.Tillotson.

ABSONANT  (A'BSONANT)   adj.[See ABSONOUS.]Contrary to reason, wide from the purpose.   ABSONOUS  (A'BSONOUS)   adj.[absonus, Lat. ill-sounding.]Absurd, contrary to reason.

ACCIPIENT  (ACCI'PIENT)   n.s.[accipiens, Lat.] A receiver, perhaps sometimes used for recipient.Dict.

Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it.