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Quotes from The Rambler — Samuel Johnson

1709–1784 England

← All quotes by Samuel Johnson

22 quotes

Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

The Rambler (1750)

Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.

The Rambler (1750)

No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library.

The Rambler (1750)

That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?

The Rambler (1750)

The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.

The Rambler (1750)

No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.

The Rambler (1750)

In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.

The Rambler (1750)

No man is much pleased with a companion, who does not increase, in some respect, his fondness for himself.

The Rambler (1750)

There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed.

The Rambler (1750)

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.

The Rambler (1750)

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)

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)

Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance and the parent of Liberty.

The Rambler (1750)

Hope is necessary in every condition.

The Rambler (1750)

He that would pass the latter part of life with honour and decency, must, when he is young, consider that he shall one day be old; and remember, when he is old, that he has once been young.

The Rambler (1750)

To convince any man against his will is hard, but to please him against his will is justly pronounced by Dryden to be above the reach of human abilities.

The Rambler (1750)

To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.

The Rambler (1750)

The future is purchased by the present.

The Rambler (1750)

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)

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)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Samuel Johnson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.