Top 500 Samuel Johnson Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”

— Samuel Johnson

2. “Knock the ‘t’ off the ‘can’t.’”

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Confidence Quotes

3. “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Integrity Quotes, Morality Quotes

4. “The first step to greatness is to be honest.”

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

5. “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.”

— Samuel Johnson

6. “There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.”

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Integrity Quotes, Confidence Quotes, Relationship Quotes, Morality Quotes, Quotes About Trust

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

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Respect Quotes

8. “My dear friend, clear your mind of can’t.”

— Samuel Johnson

9. “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”

— Samuel Johnson

10. “Our aspirations are our possibilities.”

— Samuel Johnson

11. “What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.”

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Dance Quotes

12. “Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.”

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Curiosity Quotes, Intelligence Quotes, Genius Quotes

13. “Language is the dress of thought.”

— Samuel Johnson

14. “Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance. Those that walk with vigor, three hours a day, will pass in seven years a space equal to the circumference of the globe.”

— Samuel Johnson

15. “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.”

— Samuel Johnson

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

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Teaching Quotes

17. “A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.”

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Reading Quotes

18. “The future is purchased by the present.”

— Samuel Johnson

19. “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”

— Samuel Johnson

20. “If you want to be a writer, then write. Write every day!”

— Samuel Johnson

21. “You can never be wise unless you love reading.”

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Reading Quotes

22. “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing – it only hastens fools to rush in where angels fear to tread.”

— Samuel Johnson

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

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Quotes About Trust

24. “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”

— Samuel Johnson

25. “God Himself, sir, does not propose to judge a man until his life is over. Why should you and I?”

— Samuel Johnson

26. “If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.”

— Samuel Johnson

27. “Prudence is an attitude that keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy.”

— Samuel Johnson

28. “Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.”

— Samuel Johnson

29. “Books like friends, should be few and well-chosen.”

— Samuel Johnson

30. “Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.”

— Samuel Johnson

31. “Reason and truth will prevail at last.”

— Samuel Johnson

32. “Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.”

— Samuel Johnson

33. “Deviation from Nature is deviation from happiness.”

— Samuel Johnson

34. “Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess.”

— Samuel Johnson

35. “The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it.”

— Samuel Johnson

36. “To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.”

— Samuel Johnson

37. “The true art of memory is the art of attention.”

— Samuel Johnson

38. “Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation of his defense.”

— Samuel Johnson

39. “Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion.”

— Samuel Johnson

40. “It is our first duty to serve society.”

— Samuel Johnson

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

41. “To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition.”

— Samuel Johnson

42. “The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.”

— Samuel Johnson

43. “A horse that can count to ten is a remarkable horse, not a remarkable mathematician.”

— Samuel Johnson

44. “The habit of looking on the bright side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a year.”

— Samuel Johnson

45. “Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself, and don’t think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire.”

— Samuel Johnson

46. “Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.”

— Samuel Johnson

47. “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.”

— Samuel Johnson

48. “Bias and impartiality is in the eye of the beholder.”

— Samuel Johnson

49. “Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.”

— Samuel Johnson

50. “You hesitate to stab me with a word, and know not – silence is the sharper sword.”

— Samuel Johnson