Samuel Johnson

"Let observation with extensive view Survey mankind, from China to Peru."

"But, scarce observ'd, the knowing and the bold Fall in the gen'ral massacre of gold."

"Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, And pause a while from learning to be wise. There mark what ills the scholar's life assail — Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail."

"A frame of adamant, a soul of fire, No dangers fright him, and no labors tire."

"He left the name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral, or adorn a tale."

""Enlarge my life with multitude of days!" In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays: Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know That life protracted is protracted woe."

"An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay, And glides in modest innocence away."

"Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage."

"Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise! From Marlb'rough's eyes the streams of dotage flow, And Swift expires, a driv'ler and a show."

"Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate, Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?"

"For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill."

"With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind, And makes the happiness she does not find."

"Liberty is, to the lowest rank of every nation, little more than the choice of working or starving."

"Unmoved though Witlings sneer and Rivals rail, Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail. He scorns the meek address, the suppliant strain. With merit needless, and without it vain. In Reason, Nature, Truth, he dares to trust: Ye Fops, be silent: and ye Wits, be just."

"All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance: it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united with canals. If a man was to compare the effect of a single stroke of the pick-axe, or of one impression of the spade, with the general design and last result, he would be overwhelmed by the sense of their disproportion; yet those petty operations, incessantly continued, in time surmount the greatest difficulties, and mountains are levelled, and oceans bounded, by the slender force of human beings. It is therefore of the utmost importance that those, who have any intention of deviating from the beaten roads of life, and acquiring a reputation superior to names hourly swept away by time among the refuse of fame, should add to their reason, and their spirit, the power of persisting in their purposes; acquire the art of sapping what they cannot batter, and the habit of vanquishing obstinate resistance by obstinate attacks."

"The student who would build his knowledge on solid foundations, and proceed by just degrees to the pinnacles of truth, is directed by the great philosopher of France to begin by doubting of his own existence. In like manner, whoever would complete any arduous and intricate enterprise, should, as soon as his imagination can cool after the first blaze of hope, place before his own eyes every possible embarrassment that may retard or defeat him. He should first question the probability of success, and then endeavour to remove the objections that he has raised."

"He that would pass the latter part of life with honour and decency, must, when he is young, consider that he shall one day be old; and remember, when he is old, that he has once been young."

"Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance and the parent of Liberty."

"Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does it appear that the happiest lot of terrestrial existence can set us above the want of this general blessing; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not still be wretched, were it not elevated and delighted by the expectation of some new possession, of some enjoyment yet behind, by which the wish shall at last be satisfied, and the heart filled up to its utmost extent."

"To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution."

"As it is necessary not to invite robbery by supineness, so it is our duty not to suppress tenderness by suspicion; it is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust."

"There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed."

"To convince any man against his will is hard, but to please him against his will is justly pronounced by Dryden to be above the reach of human abilities."

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

"Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect."

"No man is much pleased with a companion, who does not increase, in some respect, his fondness for himself."

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

"Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble."

"No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority."

"That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?"

"The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight."

"Avarice is generally the last passion of those lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition."

"But the truth is, that no man is much regarded by the rest of the world, except where the interest of others is involved in his fortune. The common employments or pleasures of life, love or opposition, loss or gain, keep almost every mind in perpetual agitation. If any man would consider how little he dwells upon the condition of others, he would learn how little the attention of others is attracted by himself."

"Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments; any enlargement of wishes is therefore equally destructive to happiness with the diminution of possession, and he that teaches another to long for what he never shall obtain is no less an enemy to his quiet than if he had robbed him of part of his patrimony."

"But, perhaps, the excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some obvious and useful truth in few words."

"I am not yet so lost in lexicography, as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven. Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas: I wish, however, that the instrument might be less apt to decay, and that signs might be permanent, like the things which they denote."

"Every quotation contributes something to the stability or enlargement of the language."

"It is the fate of those, who toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect of good; to be exposed to censure, without hope of praise; to be disgraced by miscarriage, or punished for neglect, where success would have been without applause, and diligence without reward. Among these unhappy mortals is the writer of dictionaries, whom mankind have considered, not as the pupil, but the slave of science, the pioneer of literature, doomed only to remove rubbish and clear obstructions from the paths through which Learning and Genius press forward to conquest and glory, without bestowing a smile on the humble drudge that facilitates their progress. Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative recompense has been yet granted to very few."

"CLUB — An assembly of good fellows, meeting under certain conditions."

"ESSAY — A loose sally of the mind; an irregular indigested piece; not a regular and orderly composition."

"EXCISE — A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid."

"GRUBSTREET — The name of a street near Moorsfield, London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems."

"LEXICOGRAPHER — A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge."

"NETWORK — Any thing reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections."

"OATS — A grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people."

"PATRON — One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is repaid in flattery."

"PENSION — An allowance made to any one without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country."

"It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm."

"Slavery is now no where more patiently endured, than in countries once inhabited by the zealots of liberty."

"Among the calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages."