"He that applauds him who does not deserve praise, is endeavoring to deceive the public; he that hisses in malice or sport, is an oppressor and a robber."
Read quote
4 likes
Quote collection
Samuel Johnson quotes (page 53 of 88)
1.7K quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Memory is like all other human powers, with which no man can be satisfied who measures them by what he can conceive, or by what he can desire."
Read quote
4 likes
"Depend upon it, sir, it is when you come close to a man in conservation that you discover what his real abilities are; to make a speech in a public assembly is a knack."
Read quote
4 likes
"In youth, it is common to measure right and wrong by the opinion of the world, and in age, to act without any measure but interest, and to lose shame without substituting virtue."
Read quote
4 likes
"Reason elevates our thoughts as high as the stars, and leads us through the vast space of this mighty fabric; yet it comes far short of the real extent of our corporeal being."
Read quote
4 likes
"Some have little power to do good, and have likewise little strength to resist evil."
Read quote
4 likes
"When first the college rolls receive his name, The young enthusiast quilts his ease for fame; Through all his veins the fever of renown Burns from the strong contagion of the gown"
Read quote
4 likes
"Applause abates diligence."
Read quote
4 likes
"Unless a woman has an amorous heart, she is a dull companion."
Read quote
4 likes
"..to write and to live are very different. Many who praise virtue, do no more than praise it."
Read quote
4 likes
"We suffer equal pain from the pertinacious adhesion of unwelcome images, as from the evanescence of those which are pleasing and useful."
Read quote
4 likes
"To get a name can happen but to few. A name, even in the most commercial nation, is one of the few things which cannot be bought . It is the free gift of mankind, which must be deserved before it will be granted, and is at last unwillingly bestowed."
Read quote
4 likes
"Life is a pill which none of us can bear to swallow without gilding."
Read quote
4 likes
"Idleness is often covered by turbulence and hurry. He that neglects his known duty and real employment naturally endeavours to crowd his mind with something that may bar out the remembrance of his own folly, and does any thing but what he ought to do with eager diligence, that he may keep himself in his own favour."
Read quote
4 likes
"If we will have the kindness of others, we must endure their follies."
Read quote
4 likes
"Our minds should not be empty because if they are not preoccupied by good, evil will break in upon them."
Read quote
4 likes
"No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it."
Read quote
4 likes
"Those who have past much of their lives in this great city, look upon its opulence and its multitudes, its extent and variety, with cold indifference; but an inhabitant of the remoter parts of the kingdom is immediately distinguished by a kind of dissipated curiosity, a busy endeavour to divide his attention amongst a thousand objects, and a wild confusion of astonishment and alarm."
Read quote
4 likes
"He that floats lazily down the stream, in pursuit of something borne along by the same current, will find himself indeed moved forward; but unless he lays his hand to the oar, and increases his speed by his own labour, must be always at the same distance from that which he is following."
Read quote
4 likes
"We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice."
Read quote
4 likes