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Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson Quotes

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Famous Samuel Johnson Quotes

“"I fly from pleasure," said the prince, "because pleasure has ceased to please; I am lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others."”

SaidHappinessPleasureLonelinessPleaseLonelyCloudsMiserableUnwillingFeeling LonelyI Am Lonely
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq
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“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. He that sinks under the fatigue of getting wealth, lulls his age with the milder business of saving it”

FirstsHas BeensAgeLastsPassionWealthPleasureWallAmbitionGreedSavingDevotedFatigueAvariceLullsAvarice Greed
Book:The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752
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“If, sir, men were all virtuous, I should with great alacrity teach them all to fly. But what would be the security of the good if the bad could at pleasure invade them from the sky? Against an army sailing through the clouds neither wall, nor mountains, nor seas could afford any security.”

IfsMenInspirationalShouldWould BeFunnyPleasureTeachSeaSkySecurityWallMountainArmyCloudsVirtuousSailingAlacrity
Book:Samuel Johnson: Selected Writings
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“None but those who have learned the art of subjecting their senses as well as reason to hypothetical systems can be persuaded by the most specious rhetorician that the lots of life are equal; yet it cannot be denied that every one has his peculiar pleasures and vexations, that external accidents operate variously upon different minds, and that no man can exactly judge from his own sensations what another would feel in the same circumstances.”

MenFeelsMindWellsArtDifferentReasonPleasureJudgingCircumstancesEqualIndividualityAccidentsSensesSensationsPeculiarDeniedHypotheticalVexationDifferent Minds
Book:The Rambler
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“The gratification of curiosity rather frees us from uneasiness than confers pleasure; we are more pained by ignorance than delighted by instruction. Curiosity is the thirst of the soul; it inflames and torments us, and makes us taste every thing with joy, however otherwise insipid, by which it may be quenched.”

MaySoulJoyPleasureIgnoranceTasteCuriosityInstructionThirstTormentGratificationDelightedInsipidUneasiness
Book:The works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: with an essay on his life and genius
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“Curiosity, like all other desires, produces pain as well as pleasure.”

WellsPainDesirePleasureProduceCuriosity
Book:The Beauties of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Consisting of Maxims and Observations, Moral, Critical, and Miscellaneous, to which are Now Added, Biographical Anecdotes of the Doctor, Selected from the Late Productions of Mrs. Piozzi, Mr. Boswell, ...
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“Moral sentences appear ostentatious and tumid, when they have no greater occasions than the journey of a wit to his home town: yet such pleasures and such pains make up the general mass of life; and as nothing is little to him that feels it with gre”

FeelsLittlesHomePainPleasureMoralGreaterJourneyMoralityMassTownsSentencesWitOccasionsHome TownOstentatious
Book:Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and Johnson's Diary of a Journey Into North Wales
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“I have no more pleasure in hearing a man attempting wit and failing, than in seeing a man trying to leap over a ditch and tumbling into it”

MenTryingPleasureFailingSeeingSpeechHearingWitLeapAttemptingTumbling
Book:Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales
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“The friendship which is to be practised or expected by common mortals, must take its rise from mutual pleasure, and must end when the power ceases of delighting each other.”

EndsFriendshipPleasureCommonExpectedCeaseMortalsMutual
Book:The Beauties of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Consisting of Maxims and Observations, Moral, Critical, and Miscellaneous, to which are Now Added, Biographical Anecdotes of the Doctor, Selected from the Late Productions of Mrs. Piozzi, Mr. Boswell, ...
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“All discourse of which others cannot partake is not only an irksome usurpation of the time devoted to pleasure and entertainment, but, what never fails to excite resentment, an insolent assertion of superiority, and a triumph over less enlightened understandings. The pedant is, therefore, not only heard with weariness but malignity; and those who conceive themselves insulted by his knowledge never fail to tell with acrimony how injudiciously it was exerted.”

UnderstandingPleasureFailingHeardEntertainmentTriumphEnlightenedResentmentDevotedSuperiorityDiscourseAssertionWearinessInsultedInsolentPedantsUsurpationAcrimony
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius
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“In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it; for no species of falsehood is more frequent than flattery, to which the coward is betrayed by fear, the dependent by interest, and the friend by tenderness: those who are neither servile nor timorous are yet desirous to bestow pleasure; and, while unjust demands of praise continue to be made, there will always be some whom hope, fear, or kindness will dispose to pay them.”

MenShouldMayMadeOrderSpeakInterestPleasurePayKindnessTaughtDemandPraiseSpeciesDependentCowardTendernessFalsehoodUnjustFlatteryBetrayedSpeak The Truth
Book:The Beauties of Samuel Johnson, Etc. (A New Edition, Being the Ninth.).
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“For life affords no higher pleasure, than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified. He that labours in any great or laudable undertaking, has his fatigues first supported by hope, and afterwards rewarded by joy... To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity.”

FirstsHumansMotivationalJoyWishPleasureStepsSeeingHigherHighestLaborDifficultyStrivePassingPassingsConquerFatigueUndertakingsFelicity
Author:Samuel Johnson
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“Attention and respect give pleasure, however late, or however useless. But they are not useless, when they are late, it is reasonable to rejoice, as the day declines, to find that it has been spent with the approbation of mankind.”

GivingHas BeensPleasureAttentionMankindLateRespectUselessReasonableRejoiceDeclineRespectabilityAttention And Respect
Book:Johnsoniana; or supplement to Boswell; being Anecdotes and sayings of Dr. Johnson, etc
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“To see helpless infancy stretching out her hands, and pouring out her cries in testimony of dependence, without any powers to alarm jealousy, or any guilt to alienate affection, must surely awaken tenderness in every human mind; and tenderness once excited will be hourly increased by the natural contagion of felicity, by the repercussion of communicated pleasure, by the consciousness of dignity of benefaction.”

MindHumansHandsNaturalPleasureConsciousnessCryDignityGuiltAffectionExcitedHuman MindTendernessHelplessDependenceTestimonyAlarmsStretchingPouringInfancyRepercussionsFelicityContagion
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius
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