"Moderation is commonly firm, and firmness is commonly successful."
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Quote collection
Samuel Johnson quotes (page 42 of 88)
1.7K quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"To talk in public, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business of the scholar"
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"The world is not yet exhausted: let me see something tomorrow which I never saw before."
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"It may be laid down as a position which seldom deceives, that when a man cannot bear his own company, there is something wrong."
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"You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables."
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"A country is in a bad state, which is governed only by laws; because a thousand things occur for which laws cannot provide, and where authority ought to interpose."
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"The mind is seldom quickened to very vigorous operations but by pain, or the dread of pain. We do not disturb ourselves with the detection of fallacies which do us no harm."
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"They that have grown old in a single state are generally found to be morose, fretful and captious; tenacious of their own practices and maxims; soon offended by contradiction or negligence; and impatient of any association but with those that will watch their nod, and submit themselves to unlimited authority."
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"If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons."
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"He left the name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral, or adorn a tale."
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"Lawful and settled authority is very seldom resisted when it is well employed."
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"Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds."
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"One cause, which is not always observed, of the insufficiency of riches, is that they very seldom make their owner rich."
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"Treating your adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled."
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"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."
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"The real satisfaction which praise can afford, is when what is repeated aloud agrees with the whispers of conscience, by showing us that we have not endeavored to deserve well in vain."
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"I have protracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave, and success and miscarriage are empty sounds: I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise."
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"Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity."
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"Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance, and the parent of Liberty."
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"Mutual cowardice keeps us in peace."
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