Samuel Johnson

No man was ever great by imitation.

Players, Sir! I look on them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint stools to make faces and produce laughter, like dancing dogs.

I have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature, to make any man’s virtues the means of deceiving him.

Wine gives a man nothing. It neither gives him knowledge nor wit; it only animates a man, and enables him to bring out what a dread of the company has repressed. It only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost.

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

Wickedness is always easier than virtue, for it takes a short cut to everything.

Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know.

Do what we can, summer will have its flies.

If you want the moon, do not hide from the night. If you want a rose, do not hide from the thorns. If you want love, do not hide from yourself.

All great truths begin as blasphemies.

The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.

Eat therefore to live, and do not live to eat.

Prudence operates on life in the same manner as rule of composition; it produces vigilance rather than elevation; rather prevents loss than procures advantage; and often miscarriages, but seldom reaches either power or honor.

No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself.

It is very easy in the world to live by the opinion of the world. It is very easy in solitude to be self-centered. But the finished man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

The Ancient Mariner would not have taken so well if it had been called The Old Sailor.

Discern of the coming on of years, and think not to do the same things still; for age will not be defied.

Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it.

No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’

The first thing a great person does, is make us realize the insignificance of circumstance.