Samuel Johnson

It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done.

There mark what ills the scholar’s life assail, toil, envy, want, and patron.

There are charms made only for distance admiration.

Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to be quite true.

What is read twice is usually remembered more than what is once written.

Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it.

In order to fully realize how bad a popular play can be, it is necessary to see it twice.

For what is love itself, for the one we love best? An enfolding of immeasurable cares which yet are better than any joys outside our love.

Bounty always receives part of its value from the manner in which it is bestowed.

It’s hard to have it all. And if you’re compromising through one phase of your journey, you’re not giving it all up, you’re compromising for that phase

You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know.

The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid again. But he won’t sit upon a cold stove lid, either.

Children are all foreigners.

I am not bound over to swear allegiance to any master; where the storm drives me I turn in for shelter.

A man of genius is privileged only as far as he is genius. His dullness is as insupportable as any other dullness.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.

Courtesy Life be not so short but that there is always time for courtesy.

The self divides into ten billion distinct illuminating spirits. Distinguish these without falling into names and classifications.

He liked to like people, therefore people liked him.

God’s first creature, which was light.