Samuel Johnson

“Books that you carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are most useful after all.”

“The world is seldom what it seems; to man, who dimly sees, realities appear as dreams, and dreams realities.”

“Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.”

“Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”

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

“Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.”

“Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, and sign your will before you sup from home.”

“A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.”

“Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o'clock is a scoundrel.”

“Words are but the signs of ideas.”

“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.”

“I am a great friend of public amusements, they keep people from vice.”

“Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.”

“Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.”

“The wretched have no compassion, they can do good only from strong principles of duty.”