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The truth is that the spectators are always in their senses, and know, from the first act to the last, that the stage is only a stage, and that the players are only players.

Samuel Johnson

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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
Always
Senses
Player
Stage
Lasts
Last
Truth
Spectators
Firsts
Players
First
Theatre

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Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.
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I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically, except in narrative grow weary of preparation, and connection, and illustration, and all those arts by which a big book is made.
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A small country town is not the place in which one would choose to quarrel with a wife every human being in such places is a spy.
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No man should attempt to teach others what he has never learned himself
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We are all prompted by the same motives, all deceived by the same fallacies, all animated by hope, obstructed by danger, entangled by desire, and seduced by pleasure.
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Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it.
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You think I love flattery (says Dr. Johnson), and so I do but a little too much always disgusts me: that fellow Richardson, on the contrary, could not be contented to sail quietly down the stream of reputation, without longing to taste the froth from every stroke of the oar.
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Misery is caused for the most part, not by a heavy crush of disaster, but by the corrosion of less visible evils, which canker enjoyment, and undermine security. The visit of an invader is necessarily rare, but domestic animosities allow no cessation.
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There are indeed, in the present corruption of mankind, many incitements to forsake truth: the need of palliating our own faults and the convenience of imposing on the ignorance or credulity of others so frequently occur so many immediate evils are
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You cannot, by all the lecturing in the world, enable a man to make a shoe.
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Domestic discord is not inevitably and fatally necessary but yet it is not easy to avoid.
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Power is gradually stealing away from the many to the few, because the few are more vigilant and consistent.
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If a madman were to come into this room with a stick in his hand, no doubt we should pity the state of his mind but our primary consideration would be to take care of ourselves. We should knock him down first, and pity him afterwards.
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No knowledge is useless, with the exception of heraldry.
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Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed.
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Mutual complacency is the atmosphere of conjugal love.
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Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers which scatter their odours from time to time in the paths of life, grow up without culture from seeds scattered by chance.
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Reflect that life, like every other blessing, Derives its value from its use alone.
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The mind is seldom quickened to very vigorous operations but by pain, or the dread of pain. We do not disturb ourselves with the detection of fallacies which do us no harm.
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Every man is of importance to himself.
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