Samuel Johnson

Nobody can write the life of a man but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him.

To keep your secret is wisdom, but to expect others to keep it is folly.

There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.

A fly may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

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.

When a man says he had pleasure with a woman he does not mean conversation.

The superfluous, a very necessary thing.

You are alive, so be fully alive.

Responsibilities are given to him on whom trust rests. Responsibility is always a sign of trust.

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 world is not yet exhausted; let me see something tomorrow which I never saw before.

We shall see but a little way if we require to understand what we see.

Personally, I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.

What ever the motive for the insult, it is always best to overlook it; for folly doesn’t deserve resentment, and malice is punished by neglect.

All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.

Wisdom is better than silver and gold. I was hopeless, now I’m on hope road.

The reward of one’s duty is the power to fulfill another.

Cities force growth and make people talkative and entertaining, but they also make them artificial.

A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa.

Some critics will write ‘Maya Angelou is a natural writer’ – which is right after being a natural heart surgeon.

Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.