Samuel Johnson

“You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”

“Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next wish is to change again.”

“There are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking; as there are fruits that are not good until they are rotten.”

“It generally happens that assurance keeps an even pace with ability.”

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.”

“The true art of memory is the art of attention.”

“Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own.”

“When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.”

“Love is only one of many passions.”

“[C]ourage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.”

“The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it.”

“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.”

“It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done.”

“Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.”

“Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy.”

“Nobody can write the life of a man but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him.”

“While an author is yet living we estimate his powers by his worst performance, and when he is dead we rate them by his best.”

“Treating your adversary with respect is striking soft in battle.”

“דברים קשים אינם קורים כדי שתהיה ממורמר ותיכנע; הם קורים כדי לשבור אותך לרסיסים ולבנותך מחדש, כך שתוכל להיות כל מה שרצית.”

“את כשרונו של סופר חי מעריכים על־פי הגרועה שביצירותיו, ואת כשרונו של סופר מת, מערכים על־פי הטובה שביצירותיו.”