Samuel Johnson

Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

Parents and children seldom act in concert: each child endeavors to appropriate the esteem or fondness of the parents, and the parents, with yet less temptation, betray each other to their children.

Worth seeing? Yes; but not worth going to see.

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good.

A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of anything than he does of his dinner.

One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.

Then spare the rod and spoil the child.

One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.

Men have to do some awfully mean things to keep up their respectability.

Whatever advice you give, be short.

And deep in my heart. The answer, it was in me. And I made up my mind. To define my own destiny.

Labor diligently to increase your property.

We mustn’t be stiff and stand-off, you know. We must be thoroughly democratic, and patronize everybody without distinction of class.

All that appears is devoid of independent existence, just like a magical apparition or a dream.

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

Nature is full of freaks, and now puts an old head on young shoulders, and then takes a young heart heating under fourscore winters.

It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.

We are ashamed of our thoughts and often see them brought forth by others.

I do not like work even when someone else does it.

It’s your life-but only if you make it so.