“A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become.”
“There are some cloudy days for the mind as well as for the world; and the man who has the most genius is twenty times a day in the clouds.”
“Men have conceived a twofold use of sleep; it is a refreshing of the body in this life, and a preparing of the soul for the next.”
“Laughter is a most healthful exertion; it is one of the greatest helps to digestion with which I am acquainted.”
“The more a man follows nature, and is obedient to her laws, the longer he will live; the farther he deviates from these, the shorter will be his existence.”
Source: Hufeland's art of prolonging life
“What is the reason that women servants ... have much lower wages than men servants ... when in fact our female house servants work much harder than the male?”
“Now ... that you are going to marry, do not expect more from life, than life will afford.”
Source: The Table Talk of Dr. Johnson: Comprising Opinions and Anecdotes of Life and Literature, Men, Manners, and Morals
“Surely, it is much easier to respect a man who has always had respect, than to respect a man who we know was last year no better than ourselves, and will be no better next year.”
Source: The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., comprehending an account of his studies, and numerous works, in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons; and various original pieces of his composition, never before published; the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished
“I have lived long enough to know what I did not at one time believe--that no society can be upheld in happiness and honor without the sentiment of religion.”
“The longer we live the more we must endure the elementary existence of men and women; and every brave heart must treat society asa child, and never allow it to dictate.”
Source: The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Comprising His Essays, Lectures, Poems, and Orations