We frequently fall into error and folly, Dr. Johnson tells us, “not because the true principles of action are not known, but because, for a time, they are not remembered.” To compress, therefore, the great and obvious rules of life into brief sentences which are not easily forgotten is, as he said, to confer a real benefit upon us.
Lockhart's Life of Walter Scott may be said to be the most admirable biography in the English language, after Boswell's Samuel Johnson.john gibson lockhart
Think of the heroism of Johnson, think of that superb indifference to mortal limitation that set him upon his dictionary, and carried him through triumphantly until the end! Who, if he were wisely considerate of things at large, would ever embark upon any work much more considerable than a halfpenny post-card? Who would project a serial novel, afterThackeray and Dickens had each fallen in mid-course? Who would find heart enough to begin to live, if he dallied with the consideration of death?Robert Louis Stevenson
Ispenttwo hourswiththat great man,Dr Johnson, who is sinking into the grave bya gentle decay.john wesley
Boris Johnson has real contempt for Londoners. He hates that we celebrate each other's heritage; he hates that we try to pass on a healthy environment to our children; he hates that we look after our most vulnerable neighbours; and most of all he hates that we all expect to share in our city's financial success.siân berry
My lord and Dr Johnson disputed a little, whether the savage or the London shopkeeper had the best existence; his lordship, as usual, preferring the savage.james boswell
You are a philosopher, Dr. Johnson. I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don't know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in.james boswell
Johnson is dead. Let us go to the next best — there is nobody; no man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson.james boswell
[To Mr. Johnson] If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales.Oliver Goldsmith
Johnson: This is fantastic to listen to. Enough of this gastronomic metaphor!Boris Johnson
The two-party system has given this country the war of Lyndon Johnson, the Watergate of Nixon, and the incompetence of Carter. Saying we should keep the two-party system simply because it is working is like saying the Titanic voyage was a success because a few people survived on life-rafts.Eugene McCarthy
As a four-year-old, my mother told me I was climbing the fence, jumping off and calling myself an 'eppyplane' ... I bought books on aeroplanes, I followed everything in the newspapers about aeroplanes. Amy Johnson flew to Australia in 1930 - why couldn't I do something like that?nancy bird walton
In his book Modern Times, the historian Paul Johnson referred to Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini as the three devils of the twentieth century. Interestingly, Nietzshean dogma influenced each of them.ravi zacharias
"A veces pienso que La vida de los poetas de Johnson es todo lo que necesito para ser feliz."adolfo bioy casares
Johnson , Hazlitt and Empson are the greatest English critics of their respective centuries not least because they are the funniest.william empson
I told Johnson and old colleagues on Capitol Hill that we had two clear choices. Either win the [Vietnam] war in a relatively short time, say within a year, or pull out all our troops and come home.barry goldwater
The performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni Tuesday night at the University of NH, Johnson Theatre, was absolutely stunning. Lithuanian baritone, Vytautas Juozapaitis, (Don Giovanni) not only had the necessary voice, but he played the boastfully lecherous rake to great fanfare.vytautas juozapaitis
[Prophet of Truth: You cannot hope to kill them all!] You're right. [She draws her pistol and points it to Johnson's head] [Sergeant Johnson: Do it. Me...then you... Now!] [Thruth shoots Miranda in the back, killing her.] [Sergeant Johnson: No!]
It would have been as though he [Pres. Johnson] were in a boat of stone with masts of steel, sails of lead, ropes of iron, the devil at the helm, the wrath of God for a breeze, and hell for his destination.
I sleep each night a little better, a little more confidently because Lyndon Johnson is my President. For I know he lives and thinks and works to make sure that for all America and indeed, the growing body of the free world, the morning shall always come.
George Johnson (unknown)
Create and save customized flash cards. Sign up today and start improving your vocabulary!