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Few faults of style, whether real or imaginary, excite the malignity of a more numerous class of readers, than the use of hard words.

Samuel Johnson

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Samuel Johnson
Age: 75 †
Born: 1709
Born: September 18
Died: 1784
Died: December 13
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Essayist
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Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Poet
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Lichfield
Staffordshire
Dr Johnson
Dr. Johnson
Great Moralist
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Excise: A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.
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A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.
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Never speak of a man in his own presence. It is always indelicate, and may be offensive .
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What provokes your risibility, Sir? Have I said anything that you understand? Then I ask pardon of the rest of the company.
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There is little peace or comfort in life if we are always anxious as to future events. He that worries himself with the dread of possible contingencies will never be at rest.
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Try and forget our cares and sickness, and contribute, as we can to the happiness of each other.
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An Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say.
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Wit will never make a man rich, but there are places where riches will always make a wit.
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Every man's affairs, however little, are important to himself.
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A man, doubtful of his dinner, or trembling at a creditor, is not much disposed to abstracted meditation, or remote enquiries.
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We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us.
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No man tells his opinion so freely as when he imagines it received with implicit veneration.
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Leisure and curiosity might soon make great advances in useful knowledge, were they not diverted by minute emulation and laborious trifles.
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There are certain topicks which are never exhausted. Of some images and sentiments the mind of man may be said to be enamoured it meets them, however often they occur, with the same ardour which a lover feels at the sight of his mistress, and parts from them with the same regret when they can no longer be enjoyed.
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Quotation is the highest compliment you can pay an author.
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How small of all that human hearts endure/That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.
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