Quotes by Samuel Johnson

“Im leaving because the weather is too good. I hate London when its not raining.”

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

“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.”

“He that undervalues himself will undervalue others, and he that undervalues others will oppress them.”

“A man will turn over half a library to make one book”

“Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you havent courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.”

“The greatest part of a writers time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book.”

“When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live”

“Always set high value on spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship of his own accord will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you.”

“Nothing focuses the mind like a hanging.”

“To want the impossible is self-defeating and can end only in frustration. To wish for an unattainable goal, however, may mean achieving ones that one might not otherwise.”

“Now if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king who led them to it.”

It is necessary to hope... for hope itself is happiness.

I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.

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

Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.

It has been observed in all ages that the advantages of nature or of fortune have contributed very little to the promotion of happiness; and that those whom the splendour of their rank, or the extent of their capacity, have placed upon the summits of human life, have not often given any just occasion to envy in those who look up to them from a lower station; whether it be that apparent superiority incites great designs, and great designs are naturally liable to fatal miscarriages; or that the general lot of mankind is misery, and the misfortunes of those whose eminence drew upon them an universal attention, have been more carefully recorded, because they were more generally observed, and have in reality only been more conspicuous than others, not more frequent, or more severe.

That we must all die, we always knew; I wish I had remembered it sooner.

Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.