Quote

Whatever advantage we snatch beyond a certain portion allotted us by at nature, is like money spent before it is due, which, at the time of regular payment, will be missed and regretted.

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
Like
Spent
Regretted
Advantage
Payment
Beyond
Portion
Whatever
Portions
Money
Anticipation
Nature
Missed
Certain
Regular
Snatch
Time
Dues
Allotted

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I have protracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave, and success and miscarriage are empty sounds: I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise.
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When the eye or the imagination is struck with an uncommon work, the next transition of an active mind is to the means by which it was performed
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Misfortunes should always be expected.
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It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.
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Every other enjoyment malice may destroy every other panegyric envy may withhold but no human power can deprive the boaster of his own encomiums.
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I am always for getting a boy forward in his learning, for that is sure good. I would let him at first read any English book which happens to engage his attention because you have done a great deal when you have brought him to have entertainment from a book. He'll get better books afterwards.
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In solitude we have our dreams to ourselves, and in company we agree to dream in concert.
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men do not suspect faults which they do not commit
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There must always be some advantage on one side or the other, and it is better that advantage should be had by talents than by chance.
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When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life for there is in London all that life can afford.
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He who has provoked the shaft of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.
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Is not a patron one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help?
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Critics, like the rest of mankind, are very frequently misled by interest.
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Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble.
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Had I learned to fiddle, I should have done nothing else.
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Everybody knows worse of himself than he knows of other men.
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As any custom is disused, the words that expressed it must perish with it as any opinion grows popular, it will innovate speech in the same proportion as it alters practice.
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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.
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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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I have always suspected that the reading is right, which requires many words to prove it wrong and the emendation wrong, that cannot without so much labour appear to he right.
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