414 quotes
In life's last scene what prodigies surprise,
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise!
From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage flow,
And Swift expires a driveller and a show.
Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.
Always, Sir, set a high value on spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship of his own accord, will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
As it is necessary not to invite robbery by supineness, so it is our duty not to suppress tenderness by suspicion; it is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.
The Rambler (1750)
There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.
Taxation No Tyranny (1775)
It is, indeed, at home that every man must be known by those who would make a just estimate of either his virtue or felicity; for smiles and embroidery are like occasional, and the mind is often dressed for show in painted honor, and fictitious benevolence.
Cold approbation gave the ling'ring bays,
For those who durst not censure, scarce could praise.
Prologue at the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre (1747)
NETWORK — Any thing reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian,
Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched,
And touched nothing that he did not adorn.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)
Catch, then, oh! 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!
Fly fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
Instructions to Young Sportsmen (1824)
All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance: it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united with canals.
The Rambler (1750)
The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who hath so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief he proposes to remove.
PATRON — One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is repaid in flattery.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
That it is doubted by single cavillers can very little weaken the general evidence, and some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
PENSION — An allowance made to any one without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
If lawyers were to undertake no causes till they were sure they were just, a man might be precluded altogether from a trial of his claim, though, were it judicially examined, it might be found a very just claim.
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)
Of all the Griefs that harrass the Distrest,
Sure the most bitter is a scornful Jest
London: A Poem (1738)
There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.
[T]hey who complain, in peace, of the insolence of the populace, must remember, that their insolence in peace is bravery in war.
The Bravery of the English Common Soldiers (1760)