Quotes
Quotes - Johnson
Gloomy calm of idle vacancy.
Wharton quotes Johnson as saying of Dr. Campbell, "He is the richest author that ever grazed the common of literature."
No one is much pleased with a companion who does not increase, in some respect, their fondness for themselves.
The business of life is to go forward.
What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.
Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.
I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself.
If I were punished for every pun I shed, there would not be left a puny shed of my punnish head.
No one is much pleased with a companion who does not increase, in some respect, their fondness for themselves.
To cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.
It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.
Always, Sir, set a 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.
If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.
Remarriage: A triumph of hope over experience.
True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice.
Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, and familiar things new.
While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.
Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.
Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
All envy would be extinguished, if it were universally known that there are none to be envied.
When people find a man of the most distinguished abilities as a writer their inferior while he is with them, it must be highly gratifying to them.
Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.
