2,116 Quotes by Samuel Johnson

It is in refinement and elegance that the civilized man differs from the savage.

If we will have the kindness of others, we must endure their follies.

There is ... scarcely any species of writing of which we can tell what is its essence, and what are its constituents; every new genius produces some innovation, which, when invented and approved, subverts the rules which the practice of foregoing authors had established.

We are easily shocked by crimes which appear at once in their full magnitude, but the gradual growth of our own wickedness, endeared by interest, and palliated by all the artifices of self-deceit, gives us time to form distinctions in our own favor

Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.

Sorrow is the mere rust of the soul. Activity will cleanse and brighten it.

I have found men to be more kind than I expected, and less just.

Domestic discord is not inevitably and fatally necessary; but yet it is not easy to avoid.

It was said of Euripides, that every verse was a precept; and it may be said of Shakespeare, that from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical prudence.