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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.

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
Must
Always
Talents
Advantage
Talent
Side
Sides
Chance
Better

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Don't think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drive into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.
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Fear naturally quickens the flight of guilt.
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All this [wealth] excludes but one evil, poverty.
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Shakespeare never had more than 6 lines together without a fault.
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Slavery is now nowhere more patiently endured, than in countries once inhabited by the zealots of liberty.
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Though the discoveries or acquisitions of man are not always adequate to the expectations of his pride, they are at least sufficient to animate his industry.
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There is no book so poor that it would not be a prodigy if wholly made by a single man.
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Sleep undisturbed within this peaceful shrine, Till angels wake thee with a note like thine.
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As pride sometimes is hid under humility, idleness if often covered by turbulence and hurry.
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The truly strong and sound mind is the mind that can embrace equally great things and small.
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I am a hardened and shameless tea drinker, who has, for twenty years, diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant whose kettle has scarcely time to cool who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and, with tea, welcomes the morning.
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That eminence of learning is not to be gained without labour, at least equal to that which any other kind of greatness can require, will be allowed by those who wish to elevate the character of a scholar since they cannot but know that every human acquisition is valuable in proportion to the difficulty of its attainment.
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It is indeed not easy to distinguish affectation from habit he that has once studiously developed a style, rarely writes afterwards with complete ease.
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The parallel circumstances and kindred images to which we readily conform our minds are, above all other writings, to be found in the lives of particular persons, and therefore no species of writing seems more worthy of cultivation than biography.
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If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.
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Sorrow is the mere rust of the soul. Activity will cleanse and brighten it.
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A continual feast of commendation is only to be obtained by merit or by wealth: many are therefore obliged to content themselves with single morsels, and recompense the infrequency of their enjoyment by excess and riot, whenever fortune sets the banquet before them.
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There is no crime more infamous than the violation of truth. It is apparent that men can be social beings no longer than they believe each other. When speech is employed only as the vehicle of falsehood, every man must disunite himself from others, inhabit his own cave and seek prey only for himself.
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Learn that the present hour alone is man's.
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Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.
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