“Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“My congratulations to you, sir. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o'clock is a scoundrel.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“Quotation is the highest compliment you can pay an author.”
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"Our aspirations are our possibilities."
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself, and don't think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire."
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"The future is purchased by the present."
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess."
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization."
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"The majority have no other reason for their opinions than that they are the fashion."
― Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)