22 Quotes of Samuel Johnson

Here are 22 invigorating quotes of Samuel Johnson (Dr Johnson, the “arguably most distinguished man of letters in English history” according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) that lighten the heart:

1. The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

2. It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

3. Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

4. The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.

5. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

6. Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

7. The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

8. What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.

9. Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

10. Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

11. Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

12. A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.

13. He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.

14. Of the blessings set before you make your choices, and be content.

15. When men come to like a sea-life, they are not fit to live on land.

16. To keep your secret is wisdom, but to expect others to keep it is folly.

17. 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.

18. When any calamity has been suffered the first thing to be remembered is, how much has been escaped.

19. Paradise Lost is a book that, once put down, is very hard to pick up again.

20. When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.

21. God himself, sir, does not propose to judge man until the end of his days.
(Why should you and I?)

22. The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make one book.