Samuel Johnson Quotes

Biography: Samuel Johnson is best known for his dictionary of the English languag... more Biography: Samuel Johnson is best known for his dictionary of the English language, published in 1755. Born in 1709 in Lichfield, England, Johnson was a prolific writer, poet, essayist, and lexicographer. His works include "Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets" and essays in publications like "The Rambler." less

"Great abilities are not requisite for an historian; for in historical composition, judgment in collecting and disposing the facts, and diligence in searching for them, are sufficient""A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good""He who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else""By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show""What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure""The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are""A man may be so much of everything, that he is nothing of anything""Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends""Almost all our miseries flow from the want of consideration of the past, and of serenity in the present""Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice; injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged""A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization""He that is angry at a fault will hate a man who has none""Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice""The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure but from hope to hope""Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings""Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it""The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking""He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts""Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance""Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble"

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