2,116 Quotes by Samuel Johnson

Quack: A boastful pretender to arts which he does not understand. A vain boastful pretender to physick; An artful, tricking practitioner in physick.

Order is a lovely nymph, the child of Beauty and Wisdom; her attendants are Comfort, Neatness, and Activity; her abode is the valley of happiness: she is always to be found when sought for, and never appears so lovely as when contrasted with her opponent, Disorder.

Year chases year, decay pursues decay, Still drops some joy from with'ring life away; New forms arise, and diff'rent views engage

In all political regulations, good cannot be complete, it can only be predominant.

Such are the vicissitudes of the world, through all its parts, that day and night, labor and rest, hurry and retirement, endear each other; such are the changes that keep the mind in action: we desire, we pursue, we obtain, we are satiated; we desire something else and begin a new pursuit.

You raise your voice when you should reinforce your argument.

Curiosity is the thirst of the soul.

Pendantry is the unseasonable ostentation of learning. It may be discovered either in the choice of a subject or in the manner d treating it.

The man who feels himself ignorant should, at least, be modest.