414 quotes
I have, all my life long, been lying till noon; yet I tell all young men, and tell them with great sincerity, that nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good.
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)
Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well: but you are surprised to find it done at all.
Hope is necessary in every condition.
The Rambler (1750)
I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.
Anecdotes of Samuel Johnson (1786)
Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect. Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.
This mournful truth is ev'rywhere confessed —
Slow rises worth, by poverty depressed.
London: A Poem (1738)
Language is the only instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas.
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,
No dangers fright him, and no labors tire.
The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749)
A translator is to be like his author; it is not his business to excel him.
What is twice read is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed.
Let observation with extensive view
Survey mankind, from China to Peru.
The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749)
A fishing-rod was a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
Resolve to spend a certain number of hours every day amongst your books.
As I know more of mankind, I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
It is the quality of reason to be invariable and constant; and of equity, to give to one man what, in the same case, is given to another.
Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.
Lives of the English Poets (1779)
Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
He delighted to tread upon the brink of meaning.
Lives of the English Poets (1779)
There is now less flogging in our great schools than formerly, but then less is learned there; so that what the boys get at one end they lose at the other.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)