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It is, indeed, at home that every man must be known by those who would make a just estimate either of his virtue or felicity for smiles and embroidery are alike occasional, and the mind is often dressed for show in painted honor, and fictitious benevolence.

Samuel Johnson

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Samuel Johnson
Age: 75 †
Born: 1709
Born: September 18
Died: 1784
Died: December 13
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Lichfield
Staffordshire
Dr Johnson
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All power of fancy over reason is a degree of madness.
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There is nothing against which an old man should be so much upon his guard as putting himself to nurse.
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Of all the griefs that harass the distress'd, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart, Than when a blockhead's insult points the dart.
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The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered, but a general effect of pleasing impression.
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Advice is seldom welcome. Those who need it most, like it least.
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I am very fond of the company of ladies. I like their beauty, I like their delicacy, I like their vivacity, and I like their silence.
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Bachelors have consciences, married men have wives.
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Labor's face is wrinkled with the wind, and swarthy with the sun.
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How can children credit the assertions of parents, which their own eyes show them to be false? Few parents act in such a manner as much to enforce their maxims by the credit of their lives
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It is to be steadily inculcated, that virtue is the highest proof of understanding, and the only solid basis of greatness.
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Poetry cannot be translation
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There is scarcely any writer who has not celebrated the happiness of rural privacy, and delighted himself and his reader with the melody of birds, the whisper of groves, and the murmur of rivulets.
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In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.
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The king who makes war on his enemies tenderly distresses his subjects most cruelly.
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To do nothing is in everyone's power.
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Sleep undisturbed within this peaceful shrine, Till angels wake thee with a note like thine.
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To purchase Heaven has gold the power? Can gold remove the mortal hour? In life can love be bought with gold? Are friendship's pleasures to be sold? No--all that's worth a wish--a thought, Fair virtue gives unbribed, unbought. Cease then on trash thy hopes to bind, Let nobler views engage thy mind.
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As all error is meanness, it is incumbent on every man who consults his own dignity, to retract it as soon as he discovers it.
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The lust of gold succeeds the rage of conquest The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless! The last corruption of degenerate man.
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Every man who attacks my belief, diminishes in some degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneasy and I am angry with him who makes me uneasy.
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