414 quotes
Avarice is generally the last passion of those lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition.
The Rambler (1750)
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)
Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat.
That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775)
But, perhaps, the excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some obvious and useful truth in few words.
The Rambler (1750)
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)
That book is good in vain, which the reader throws away.
Lives of the English Poets (1779)
While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an excess of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
If a man does not make new acquaintances, as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.
This man [Chesterfield] I thought had been a lord among wits; but I find he is only a wit among lords.
I do not envy a clergyman's life as an easy life, nor do I envy the clergyman who makes it an easy life.
We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know, because they have never deceived us.
The Idler (1758)
With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind,
And makes the happiness she does not find.
The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749)
No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
The Idler (1758)
The Churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.
Lives of the English Poets (1779)
Johnson observed, that "he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney."
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)