Quotes from Samuel Johnson

If a madman were to come into this room with a stick in his hand, no doubt we should pity the state of his mind; but our primary consideration would be to take care of ourselves. We should knock him down first, and pity him afterwards.

The poor and the busy have no leisure for sentimental sorrow.

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert it only irritates.

Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it.

No mind is much employed upon the present; recollection and anticipation fill up almost all our moments.

It seems to be the fate of man to seek all his consolations in futurity.

Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.

A man who both spends and saves money is the happiest man, because he has both enjoyments.

As the Spanish proverb says, 'He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.' So it is with traveling. A man must carry knowledge with him if he would bring home knowledge.

As the Spanish proverb says, "He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him." So it is in traveling: a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.

Life is short. The sooner that a man begins to enjoy his wealth the better.

When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.

Alas! another instance of the triumph of hope over experience.

I am not yet so lost in lexicography, as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven.

Languages are the pedigree of nations.

When speculation has done its worst, two and two still make four.

Read over your compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.

The best part of every author is in general to be found in his book, I assure you.

When an author is yet living, we estimate his powers by his worst performance; and when he is dead, we rate them by his best.

The man who is asked by an author what he thinks of his work is put to the torture and is not obliged to speak the truth.

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

Your manuscript is both good and original; but the parts that are good are not original, and the parts that are original are not good.

Much may be made of a Scotchman if he be caught young.

So far is it from being true that men are naturally equal, that no two people can be half an hour together, but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other.