"Sir, he throws away his money without thought and without merit. I do not call a tree generous that sheds its fruit at every breeze."
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Quote collection
Samuel Johnson quotes (page 41 of 88)
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"Where there is no difficulty there is no praise."
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"Friendship, compounded of esteem and love, derives from one its tenderness and its permanence from the other."
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"What signifies protesting so against flattery when a person speaks well of one, it must either be true or false, you know if true, let us rejoice in his good opinion if he lies, it is a proof at least that he loves more to please me, than to sit s"
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"Extended empires are like expanded gold, exchanging solid strength for feeble splendor."
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"Sleep is a state in which a great part of every life is passed. No animal has yet been discovered, whose existence is not varied with intervals of insensibility; and some late philosophers have extended the empire of sleep over the vegetable world."
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"Network. Anything reticulated or decussated at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections."
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"Among the calamities of war may be numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates, and credulity encourages."
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"Women can spin very well; but they cannot make a good book of cookery."
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"When I find that so much of my life has stolen unprofitably away, and that I can descry by retrospection scarcely a few single days properly and vigorously employed, why do I yet try to resolve again? I try, because reformation is necessary and despair is criminal. I try, in humble hope of the help of God."
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"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 care 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."
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"It is not the desire of new acquisitions, but the glory of conquests, that fires the soldier's breast; as indeed the town is seldom worth much, when it has suffered the devastations of a siege."
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"The great source of pleasure is variety."
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"Among those whose reputation is exhausted in a short time by its own luxuriance are the writers who take advantage of present incidents or characters which strongly interest the passions, and engage universal attention. It is not difficult to obtain readers, when we discuss a question which every one is desirous to understand, which is debated in every assembly, and has divided the nation into parties; or when we display the faults or virtues of him whose public conduct has made almost every man his enemy or his friend."
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"From ignorance our comfort flows, the only wretched are the wise"
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"The blaze of reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies in the socket; a very few names may be considered as perpetual lamps that shine unconsumed."
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"For sorrow there is no remedy provided by nature; it is often occasioned by accidents irreparable, and dwells upon objects that have lost or changed their existence; it requires what it cannot hope, that the laws of the universe should be repealed; that the dead should return, or the past should be recalled."
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""Uisce Beatha" is a compounded distilled spirit being drawn on aromatics, and the Irish sort is particularly distinguished for its pleasant and mild flavour."
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"Come, let me know what it is that makes a Scotch man happy!"
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"This was a good dinner enough, to be sure, but it was not a dinner to ask a man to."
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