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We ought not to raise expectations which it is not in our power to satisfy.-It is more pleasing to see smoke brightening into flame, than flame sinking into smoke.

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
Raises
Brightening
Expectations
Sinking
Ought
Pleasing
Power
Satisfy
Flame
Flames
Raise
Smoke

More quotes by Samuel Johnson

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Yet reason frowns in war's unequal game, Where wasted nations raise a single name And mortgag'd states their grandsire's wreaths regret, From age to age in everlasting debt Wreaths which at last the dear-bought right convey To rust on medals, or on stones decay.
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Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.
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The world is seldom what it seems to man, who dimly sees, realities appear as dreams, and dreams realities.
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There ambush here relentless ruffians lay, And here the fell attorney prowls for prey.
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Milton, Madam, was a genius that could cut a Colossus from a rock but could not carve heads upon cherry-stones.
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Ignorance cannot always be inferred from inaccuracy knowledge is not always present.
Samuel Johnson
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Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds.
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There is a certain race of men that either imagine it their duty, or make it their amusement, to hinder the reception of every work of learning or genius, who stand as sentinels in the avenues of fame, and value themselves upon giving Ignorance and Envy the first notice of a prey.
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There is nothing against which an old man should be so much upon his guard as putting himself to nurse.
Samuel Johnson
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Wit is that which has been often thought, but never before was well expressed.
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Pride is a vice, which pride itself inclines every man to find in others, and to overlook in himself
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In general those parents have the most reverence who most deserve it for he that lives well cannot be despised.
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We consider ourselves as defective in memory, either because we remember less than we desire, or less than we suppose others to remember.
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Order is a lovely nymph, the child of Beauty and Wisdom her attendants are Comfort, Neatness, and Activity her abode is the valley of happiness: she is always to be found when sought for, and never appears so lovely as when contrasted with her opponent, Disorder.
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As the greatest liar tells more truths than falsehoods, so may it be said of the worst man, that he does more good than evil.
Samuel Johnson
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Books without the knowledge of life are useless.
Samuel Johnson
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The maxim of Cleobulus, Mediocrity is best, has been long considered a universal principle, extending through the whole compass of life and nature. The experience of every age seems to have given it new confirmation, and to show that nothing, however specious or alluring, is pursued with propriety or enjoyed with safety beyond certain limits.
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With what hope can we endeavor to persuade the ladies that the time spent at the toilet is lost in vanity.
Samuel Johnson
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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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That is the happiest conversation where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm, quiet interchange of sentiments...
Samuel Johnson