Samuel Johnson Quotes

Words are but the signs of ideas.
Samuel Johnson

Words, Ideas, Signs

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.
Samuel Johnson

Life, Time, Money

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.
Samuel Johnson

Great, Requisite

The advice that is wanted is commonly not welcome and that which is not wanted, evidently an effrontery.
Samuel Johnson

Advice, Wanted, Welcome

You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.
Samuel Johnson

Good, Money, Giving

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

Desire, Read, Written

Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.
Samuel Johnson

Poetry, Truth, Art

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.
Samuel Johnson

Time, Short, Lives

All theory is against freedom of the will; all experience for it.
Samuel Johnson

Freedom, Experience, Against

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

Life, Long, Shall

Read over your compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.
Samuel Johnson

Read, Fine, Meet

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
Samuel Johnson

Effort, Read, General

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

Great, Friend, Keep

A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but, one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.
Samuel Johnson

May, Him, Horse

A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of anything than he does of his dinner.
Samuel Johnson

Thinks, Dinner, Seldom

A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority.
Samuel Johnson

Conscious, Italy

By taking a second wife he pays the highest compliment to the first, by showing that she made him so happy as a married man, that he wishes to be so a second time.
Samuel Johnson

Time, Happy, Wife

Depend upon it that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him; for where there is nothing but pure misery there never is any recourse to the mention of it.
Samuel Johnson

Nothing, Him, Misery

Every man who attacks my belief, diminishes in some degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneasy; and I am angry with him who makes me uneasy.
Samuel Johnson

Angry, Confidence, Him

Exercise is labor without weariness.
Samuel Johnson

Fitness, Exercise, Labor

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

Great, Power, Few

He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.
Samuel Johnson

Sunshine, Enjoy, Quit

He who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind anything else.
Samuel Johnson

Mind, Else, Belly

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

Life, Human, State

I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.
Samuel Johnson

Rather, Show, Dog

Share with your Friends

Everyone likes a good quote - don't forget to share.

Biography

Nationality: English

Type: Author

Born: September 18, 1709

Died: December 13, 1784

Links

Find on Amazon: Samuel Johnson

Cite this Page: Citation

Popular Topics

Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

Related Authors

A. A. Milne
Lewis Carroll
H. G. Wells
J. K. Rowling
Terry Pratchett
Horace Walpole
Jerome K. Jerome
More

Get Social with BrainyQuote

BrainyQuote Desktop

BrainyQuote Mobile

Site

Quote of the Day

Social

BQ on Pinterest

Syndication

Funny Quote Feed

Love Quote Feed

Nature Quote Feed

About Us