Samuel Johnson

You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.

Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.

He that thinks he can afford to be negligent is not far from being poor.

Extended empires are like expanded gold, exchanging solid strength for feeble splendor.

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.

Nay, Madam, when you are declaiming, declaim; and when you are calculating, calculate.

There is a great deal of human nature in people.

It is seldom that the miserable of the world can help regarding their misery as a wrong inflicted by those who are less miserable.

For knowledge itself is power.

Wisdom has its root in goodness, not goodness its root in wisdom.

You are a constant. Forever in my mind; forever in my heart. It seems that most matter how much I try I can’t get rid of you. You are a thorn, stuck in deep; painful to remove, and even when I do, still I’ll bleed and feel the soreness. It will take time, but it will heal. No matter the pain, I will still dare to pick roses.

I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe. And that way the nation is moving, and I may say that mankind progress from east to west. We go eastward to realize history and study the works of art and literature, retracing the steps of the race; we go westward as into the future, with a spirit of enterprise and adventure.

The martyr cannot be dishonored. Every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame; every prison a more illustrious abode.

My liver swells with bile difficult to repress.

I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.

To choose time is to save time.

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.

No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.

A short letter to a distant friend is, in my opinion, an insult like that of a slight bow or cursory salutation — a proof of unwillingness to do much, even where there is a necessity of doing something.

Blows are sarcasm’s turned stupid.

How hard you work matters more than how much you make.