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Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression we must always purpose to do more or better than in time past.

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
Worthy
Purpose
Past
Better
Must
Always
Time
Progression
Life
Rational

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Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.
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Read the book you do honestly feel a wish and curiosity to read.
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All wonder is the effect of novelty on ignorance.
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I have adopted the Roman sentiment, that it is more honorable to save a citizen than to kill an enemy.
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A newswriter is a man without virtue, who lies at home for his own profit.
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Poetry cannot be translation
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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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We must consider how very little history there is--I mean real, authentic history. That certain kings reigned and certain battles were fought, we can depend upon as true but all the coloring, all the philosophy, of history is conjecture.
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To be flattered is grateful, even when we know that our praises are not believed by those who pronounce them for they prove, at least, our power, and show that our favour is valued, since it is purchased by the meanness of falsehood.
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Piety is the only proper and adequate relief of decaying man. He that grows old without religions hopes, as he declines into imbecility, and feels pains and sorrows incessantly crowding upon him, falls into a gulf of bottomless misery, in which every reflection must plunge him deeper and deeper.
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Apologies are seldom of any use.
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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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Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
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In Shakespeare's plays, the mourner hastening to bury his friend is all the time colliding with the reveller hastening to his wine.
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Misfortunes should always be expected.
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Few men survey themselves with so much severity as not to admit prejudices in their own favor.
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None can be pleased without praise, and few can be praised without falsehood.
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Rain is good for vegetables, and for the animals who eat those vegetables, and for the animals who eat those animals.
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The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth.
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Sir, if a man has a mind to prance, he must study at Christ Church and All Souls.
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