2,116 Quotes by Samuel Johnson

Life consists not of a series of illustrious actions or elegant enjoyments. The greater part of our time passes in compliance with necessities, in the performance of daily duties, in the removal of small inconveniences, in the procurement of petty pleasures; and we are well or ill at ease, as the main stream of life glides on smoothly, or is ruffled by small obstacles and frequent interruption.

The heroes of literary history have been no less remarkable for what they have suffered than for what they have achieved.

Poetry cannot be translation

If a man begins to read in the middle of a book, and feels an inclination to go on, let him not quit it to go to the beginning. He may perhaps not feel again the inclination.

A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.

I do not much wish well to discoveries, for I am always afraid they will end in conquest and robbery.

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.

He was so generally civil, that nobody thanked him for it.

It is man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in old age.