Quote

Had I learned to fiddle, I should have done nothing else.

Samuel Johnson

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Done
Fiddle
Learned
Else
Nothing

More quotes by Samuel Johnson

Image
It is the great privilege of poverty to be happy unenvied, to be healthful without physic, and secure without a guard to obtain from the bounty of nature, what the great and wealthy are compelled to procure by the help of artists and attendants, of flatterers and spies.
Samuel Johnson
Image
A man should be careful never to tell tales of himself to his own disadvantage. People may be amused at the time, but they will be remembered, and brought out against him upon some subsequent occasion.
Samuel Johnson
Image
The mischief of flattery is, not that it persuades any man that he is what he is not, but that it suppresses the influence of honest ambition, by raising an opinion that honour may be gained without the toil of merit.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Any of us would kill a cow rather than not have beef.
Samuel Johnson
Image
A blade of grass is always a blade of grass, whether in one country or another.
Samuel Johnson
Image
We never do anything consciously for the last time without sadness of heart.
Samuel Johnson
Image
When there is no hope, there can be no endeavor.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Self-love is a busy prompter.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Riches, perhaps, do not so often produce crimes as incite accusers.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.
Samuel Johnson
Image
We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us.
Samuel Johnson
Image
The disturbers of our happiness, in this world, are our desires, our griefs, and our fears.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Hoc age ['do this'] is the great rule, whether you are serious or merry whether ... learning science or duty from a folio, or floating on the Thames. Intentions must be gathered from acts.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Most minds are the slaves of external circumstances, and conform to any hand that undertakes to mould them.
Samuel Johnson
Image
It is generally agreed, that few men are made better by affluence or exaltation.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Men become friends by a community of pleasures.
Samuel Johnson
Image
Our senses, our appetite, and our passions are our lawful and faithful guides in things that relate solely to this life.
Samuel Johnson
Image
From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,- Path, motive, guide, original, and end.
Samuel Johnson
Image
There is a frightful interval between the seed and the timber.
Samuel Johnson