Quote

There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either.

Samuel Johnson

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Samuel Johnson
Age: 75 †
Born: 1709
Born: September 18
Died: 1784
Died: December 13
Biographer
Bookseller
Essayist
Lexicographer
Linguist
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Poet
Politician
Teacher
Translator
Writer
Lichfield
Staffordshire
Dr Johnson
Dr. Johnson
Great Moralist
Pass
Distance
Reach
Either
Cannot
Seize
May
Prudence
Great
Opposed
Much
Goods

More quotes by Samuel Johnson

Image
There lurks, perhaps, in every human heart a desire of distinction, which inclines every man first to hope, and then to believe, that Nature has given him something peculiar to himself.
Samuel Johnson
Image
No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library for who can see the wall crowded on every side by mighty volumes, the works of laborious meditations and accurate inquiry, now scarcely known but by the catalogue.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Those who have no power to judge of past times but by their own, should always doubt their conclusions
Samuel Johnson
Image
I have adopted the Roman sentiment, that it is more honorable to save a citizen than to kill an enemy.
Samuel Johnson
Image
None but a fool worries about things he cannot influence.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Distance either of time or place is sufficient to reconcile weak minds to wonderful relations.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Discord generally operates in little things it is inflamed ... by contrariety of taste oftener than principles.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Those writers who lie on the watch for novelty can have little hope of greatness for great things cannot have escaped former observation.
Samuel Johnson
Image
He who sees different ways to the same end, will, unless he watches carefully over his own conduct, lay out too much of his attention upon the comparison of probabilities and the adjustment of expedients, and pause in the choice of his road, till some accident intercepts his journey.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Women have two weapons - cosmetics and tears
Samuel Johnson
Image
Reason elevates our thoughts as high as the stars, and leads us through the vast space of this mighty fabric yet it comes far short of the real extent of our corporeal being.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Claret is the liquor for boys port for men but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.
Samuel Johnson
Image
I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Every state of society is as luxurious as it can be. Men always take the best they can get.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Dishonor waits on perfidy. A man should blush to think a falsehood it is the crime of cowards.
Samuel Johnson
Image
The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.
Samuel Johnson
Image
No knowledge is useless, with the exception of heraldry.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Your manuscript is both good and original but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.
Samuel Johnson
Image
No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Happiness is enjoyed only in proportion as it is known and such is the state or folly of man, that it is known only by experience of its contrary.
Samuel Johnson