2,116 Quotes by Samuel Johnson

Scarcely any degree of judgment is sufficient to restrain the imagination from magnifying that on which it is long detained

I hate a fellow whom pride, or cowardice, or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl; let him come out as I do, and bark.

No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring.

Claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy

Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present. The acknowledgment of those virtues on which conscience congratulates us is a tribute that we can at any tine exact with confidence; but the celebration of those which we only feign, or desire without any vigorous endeavours to attain them, is received as a confession of sovereignty over regions never conquered, as a favourable decision of disputable claims, and is more welcome as more gratuitous.

He that has too much to do will do something wrong.

This merriment of parsons is mighty offensive.

Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me. I am sick of both.

If one party resolves to demand what the other resolves to refuse, the dispute can be determined only by arbitration; and between powers who have no common superior, there is no other arbitrator than the sword