Samuel Johnson

It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.

Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next wish is to change again.

The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.

Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

There’s much more stupidity than there is malice in the world.

There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little, and therefore men should remedy suspicion by procuring to know more, and not keep their suspicions in smother.

When men come to like a sea-life, they are not fit to live on land.

Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.

A heart well prepared for adversity in bad times hopes, and in good times fears for a change in fortune.

Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.

Tis admirable to consider, how Powerful the Kings are, yet they move by the Breath of their People.

There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living.

Thought is the sculptor who can create the person you want to be.

The thief. Once committed beyond a certain point he should not worry himself too much about not being a thief any more. Thieving is God’s message to him. Let him try and be a good thief.

The roses under my window make no reference to former roses or better ones; they are what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.

The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.

Play not with paradoxes. That caustic which you handle in order to scorch others may happen to sear your own fingers and make them dead to the quality of things.

This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.

Do not undervalue the headache. While it is at its sharpest it seems a bad investment; but when relief begins, the unexpired remainder is worth $4 a minute.