Samuel Johnson Quotes | GloryQuotes

Samuel Johnson Quotes About Life

Nobody can write the life of a man but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him.

Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman.

Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed.

Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy.

Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.

From the middle of life onward, only he remains vitally alive who is ready to die with life.

Samuel Johnson Quotes About Happiness

Nothing flatters a man as much as the happiness of his wife; he is always proud of himself as the source of it.

Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess.

There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.

Allow children to be happy in their own way, for what better way will they find?

It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.

I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government other than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.

Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

More Quotes by Samuel Johnson

Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments.

He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, and sign your will before you sup from home.

Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

Friendship, like love, is destroyed by long absence, though it may be increased by short intermissions.

Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.

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 a book.

All the arguments which are brought to represent poverty as no evil show it evidently to be a great evil.

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

The world is seldom what it seems; to man, who dimly sees, realities appear as dreams, and dreams realities.

A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.

A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.

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

A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated, has not the art of getting drunk.

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

Wine makes a man more pleased with himself; I do not say it makes him more pleasing to others.

No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring.

Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life, and... the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use.

You teach your daughters the diameters of the planets and wonder when you are done that they do not delight in your company.

Books that you carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are most useful after all.

The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking.

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good.

The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne.

I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.

Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.

Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own.

We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting.

Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test.

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.

It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done.

Few enterprises of great labor or hazard would be undertaken if we had not the power of magnifying the advantages we expect from them.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

You can't be in politics unless you can walk in a room and know in a minute who's for you and who's against you.

Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

Wine gives a man nothing... it only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost.

Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.

One of the disadvantages of wine is that it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.

Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to us.

A am a great friend of public amusements, they keep people from vice.

It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentionally lying that there is so much falsehood in the world.

Browse 194 quotes attributed to Samuel Johnson, listed in the source data as a English Author, organized around themes such as Life, Happiness, Money. Use the topic links to explore similar quotes, or browse the full author collection in one place.