Quote

Don't tell me of deception a lie is a lie, whether it be a lie to the eye or a lie to the ear.

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
Tell
Deceit
Deception
Ears
Lying
Whether
Eye

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A lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes, unless his client asks his opinion, and then he is bound to give it honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the judge.
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Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it.
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The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape.
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The two offices of memory are collection and distribution.
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The main of life is composed of small incidents and petty occurrences of wishes for objects not remote, and grief for disappointments of no fatal consequence.
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It is better a man should be abused than forgotten.
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That man is never happy for the present is so true, that all his relief from unhappiness is only forgetting himself for a little while. Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.
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No man is a hypocrite in his pleasures.
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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 should be a stated day for commemorating the birthday of our Savior, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected.
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It is not often that any man can have so much knowledge of another, as is necessary to make instruction useful.
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A man finds in the productions of nature an inexhaustible stock of material on which he can employ himself, without any temptations to envy or malevolence, and has always a certain prospect of discovering new reasons for adoring the sovereign author of the universe.
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There ambush here relentless ruffians lay, And here the fell attorney prowls for prey.
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No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.
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To proportion the eagerness of contest to its importance seems too hard a task for human wisdom. The pride of wit has kept ages busy in the discussion of useless questions, and the pride of power has destroyed armies, to gain or to keep unprofitable possessions.
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I remember very well, when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me, Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge for when years come upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task.
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The insolence of wealth will creep out.
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Apologies are seldom of any use.
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A man who always talks for fame never can be pleasing. The man who talks to unburthen his mind is the man to delight you.
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The seeds of knowledge may be planted in solitude, but must be cultivated in public.
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