| 208 Famous Quotes by Samuel Johnson
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“Round numbers are always false.”
Lying Quotes Source: Johnsoniana--Apothegms, Sentiment, etc., From Hawkin's Collective Addition
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“For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill.”
Patience Quotes Source: The Vanity of Human Wishes (l. 352)
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“Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires
to be a hero must drink brandy.”
Liquor Quotes Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson
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“Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of
life.”
Liquor Quotes Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson
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“And sure the Eternal Master found
The single talent well employ'd.”
Occupations Quotes Source: Verses on the On the Death of Mr. Robert Levet (st. 7)
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“I remember a passage in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," which
he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: "I do not love a man
who is zealous for nothing."”
Zeal Quotes Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson
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“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Patriotism Quotes Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson
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“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 runs of Iona.”
Patriotism Quotes Source: A Journey to the Western Islands--Inch Kenneth
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“Fine clothes are good only as they supply the want of other means
of procuring respect.”
Apparel Quotes Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson
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“The first years of man must make provision for the last.”
Prudence Quotes Source: Rasselas (ch. XVII)
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“Of all the griefs that harass the distress'd,
Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest;
Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart,
Than when a blockhead's insult points the dart.”
Jesting Quotes Source: London (l. 165)
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“Jesting, often, only proves a want of intellect.
[Fr., La moquerie est souvent une indigence d'esprit.]”
Jesting Quotes Source: London (l. 165)
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“We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the
potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.”
Wealth Quotes Source: remark on the sale of Thrale's Brewery, 1781
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“The lust of gold succeeds the rage of conquest;
The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless!
The last corruption of degenerate man.”
Gold Quotes Source: Irene (act I, sc. 1)
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“As the Spanish proverb says, "He who would bring home the wealth
of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him." So
it is in traveling: a man must carry knowledge with him, if he
would bring home knowledge.”
Traveling Quotes Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson
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“Let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place
where he is not known. Don't let him go to the devil where he is
known.”
Traveling Quotes Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson
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“The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and,
instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.”
Traveling Quotes Source: Piozzi's Johnsoniana (154)
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“Let observation with extensive view,
Survey mankind from China to Peru;
Remark each anxious toil, each eager strife,
And watch the busy scenes of crowded life.”
Traveling Quotes Source: Vanity of Human Wishes
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“The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.”
Applause Quotes Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson
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“Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of
God.”
Fear Quotes Source: Recollections of Johnson, From Miss Reynolds
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“Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to
negotiate.”
Fear Quotes Source: Recollections of Johnson, From Miss Reynolds
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“I live in the crowds of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as
to shun myself.”
Society Quotes Source: Rasselas (ch. XVI)
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“Yet still he fills affection's eye,
Obscurely wise, and coarsely kind.”
Obscurity Quotes Source: Verses on the On the Death of Mr. Robert Levet
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“Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man
struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground
encumbers him with help?”
Help Quotes Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson
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“The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary
commonwealth.”
Royalty Quotes Source: Life of Milton
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Samuel Johnson Quotes, Quotations, and Sayings
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