Quotes by Samuel Johnson with pleasure

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson

English writer

Lived from: 1709 - 1784

Category: Writers (Contemporary) Country: FlagUnited Kingdom

Born: 18 september 1709 Died: 13 december 1784

  • The real satisfaction which praise can afford, is when what is repeated aloud agrees with the whispers of conscience, by showing us that we have not endeavored to deserve well in vain.
  • A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.
  • Every other enjoyment malice may destroy; every other panegyric envy may withhold; but no human power can deprive the boaster of his own encomiums.
  • Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
  • Books that you carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are most useful after all.
  • Cruel with guilt, and daring with despair, the midnight murderer bursts the faithless bar; invades the sacred hour of silent rest and leaves, unseen, a dagger in your breast.
  • His scorn of the great is repeated too often to be real; no man thinks much of that which he despises.
  • Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
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  • What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • Attention and respect give pleasure, however late, or however useless. But they are not useless, when they are late, it is reasonable to rejoice, as the day declines, to find that it has been spent with the approbation of mankind.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • Avarice is generally the last passion of those lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition. He that sinks under the fatigue of getting wealth, lulls his age with the milder business of saving it.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • If pleasure was not followed by pain, who would forbear it?
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • It is the only sensual pleasure without vice.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • Much of the pain and pleasure of mankind arises from the conjectures which every one makes of the thoughts of others; we all enjoy praise which we do not hear, and resent contempt which we do not see.
    Idler
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • Pain is less subject than pleasure to careless expression.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • Pleasure that is obtained by unreasonable and unsuitable cost, must always end in pain.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • The luster of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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  • When a man says he had pleasure with a woman he does not mean conversation.
    ― Samuel Johnson
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Questions and Answers

What are the most famous quotes from Samuel Johnson?

The two most famous quotes from Samuel Johnson are:

  • "What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure."
  • "Attention and respect give pleasure, however late, or however useless. But they are not useless, when they are late, it is reasonable to rejoice, as the day declines, to find that it has been spent with the approbation of mankind."

When did Samuel Johnson live?

Samuel Johnson was born in 1709 and died in the year 1784.