414 quotes
Language is the dress of thought.
Lives of the English Poets (1779)
Was ever poet so trusted before?
I do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject.
Small debts are like small shot; they are rattling on every side, and can scarcely be escaped without a wound; great debts are like cannon, of loud noise but little danger.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Life admits not of delays; when pleasure can be had, it is fit to catch it. Every hour takes away part of the things that please us, and perhaps part of our disposition to be pleased.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes,
And pause a while from learning to be wise.
There mark what ills the scholar's life assail —
Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749)
Unmoved though Witlings sneer and Rivals rail,
Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail.
He scorns the meek address, the suppliant strain.
With merit needless, and without it vain.
In Reason, Nature, Truth, he dares to trust:
Ye Fops, be silent: and ye Wits, be just.
The Tragedy of Irene (1749)
All Crimes are safe, but hated Poverty.
This, only this, the rigid Law persues.
London: A Poem (1738)
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise!
From Marlb'rough's eyes the streams of dotage flow,
And Swift expires, a driv'ler and a show.
The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749)
Norway, too, has noble wild prospects; and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. But, Sir, let me tell you, the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
OATS — A grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
Here falling Houses thunder on your Head,
And here a female Atheist talks you dead.
London: A Poem in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal (1738)
Quotation, Sir, is a good thing; there is a community of mind in it : classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.
Remark to Wilkes (1781)
Pity is not natural to man. Children are always cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation of reason.
Catch then, O! catch the transient hour,
Improve each moment as it flies;
Life's a short Summer — man a flower,
He dies — alas! how soon he dies!
Was there ever yet any thing written by mere man that was wished longer by its readers, excepting Don Quixote, Robinson Crusoe, and the Pilgrim's Progress?
Anecdotes of Samuel Johnson (1786)
The triumph of hope over experience.
Of all the griefs that harass the distress'd,
Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest;
Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart,
Than when a blockhead's insult points the dart.
Ladies, stock and tend your hive,
Trifle not at thirty-five;
For, howe'er we boast and strive,
Life declines from thirty-five;
He that ever hopes to thrive
Must begin by thirty-five.
Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)