Samuel Johnson

England
18 Sep 1709 // 13 Dec 1784
Writer

Quotes

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No degree of knowledge attainable by man is able to set him above the want of hourly assistance
Music is the only sensual pleasure without vice
Money confounds subordination
Moderation is commonly firm, and firmness is commonly successful
Men who cannot deceive others are very often successful at deceiving themselves
Men seldom give pleasure when they are not pleased themselves
Men become friends by a community of pleasures
Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures
Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it
Man's chief merit consists in resisting the impulses of his nature
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays