95 quotes
Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence, is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of this weary pilgrimage.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
It is as bad as bad can be: it is ill-fed, ill-killed, ill-kept, and ill-drest.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Why, Sir, it is difficult to settle the proportion of iniquity between them.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
It might as well be said, "Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat."
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
It is better to live rich, than to die rich.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Towering is the confidence of twenty-one.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
It is strange that there should be so little reading in the world, and so much writing. People in general do not willingly read, if they can have any thing else to amuse them.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Sir, I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Wine makes a man more pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Shakspeare never has six lines together without a fault. Perhaps you may find seven: but this does not refute my general assertion.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Sir, you have but two topicks, yourself and me. I am sick of both.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)