2,116 Quotes by Samuel Johnson

To excite opposition and inflame malevolence is the unhappy privilege of courage made arrogant by consciousness of strength.

No man forgets his original trade: the rights of nations and of kings sink into questions of grammar, if grammarians discuss them

Of all the grief's that harass the distressed; sure the most bitter is a scornful jest.

No one will persist long in helping someone who will not help themselves.

The belief of immortality is impressed upon all men, and all men act under an impression of it, however they may talk, and though, perhaps, they may be scarcely sensible of it.

To live without feeling or exciting sympathy, to be fortunate without adding to the felicity of others, or afflicted without tasting the balm of pity, is a state more gloomy than solitude; it is not retreat, but exclusion from mankind. Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.

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

In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.

All wonder is the effect of novelty on ignorance.