Samuel Johnson: Finding

Samuel Johnson was English writer. Explore interesting quotes on finding.

Samuel Johnson: 724 quotes26 likes

“It is seldom that we find either men or places such as we expect them.”

Samuel Johnson The Idler

No. 58 (May 26, 1759)
The Idler (1758–1760)
Context: It is seldom that we find either men or places such as we expect them.... Yet it is necessary to hope, though hope should always be deluded, for hope itself is happiness, and its frustrations, however frequent, are yet less dreadful than its extinction.

“Allow children to be happy in their own way, for what better way will they find?”

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

April 18, 1775, p. 258
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II

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

“If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.”

1755, p. 83
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

“How small of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure!
Still to ourselves in every place consigned,
Our own felicity we make or find.
With secret course, which no loud storms annoy,
Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.”

Source: Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Lines added to Goldsmith's Traveller

“The Churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.”

The Life of Gray
Lives of the English Poets (1779–81)

“I [Boswell] happened to say, it would be terrible if he should not find a speedy opportunity of returning to London, and be confined in so dull a place.
JOHNSON: "Don't, Sir, accustom yourself to use big words for little matters. It would not be terrible, though I were to be detained some time here."”

August 6, 1763, p. 134
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

“With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind,
And makes the happiness she does not find.”

Source: Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), Line 367

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

September 20, 1773
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)

“It is always observable that silence propagates itself, and that the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find any thing to say.”

The Adventurer, # 84 (August 25, 1753) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12050 <br class="br">Variant: Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say.

“A transition from an author's book to his conversation, is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant prospect. Remotely, we see nothing but spires of temples and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendour, grandeur and magnificence; but when we have passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded with smoke.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 14 (5 May 1750) http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Joh1Ram.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=14&division=div1 <br class="br">The Rambler (1750–1752)

“Shakspeare never has six lines together without a fault. Perhaps you may find seven: but this does not refute my general assertion.”

October 19, 1769, p. 170
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II

“Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden meeting by chance, or brought together by artifice, exchange glances, reciprocate civilities, go home, and dream of one another. Having little to divert attention, or diversify thought, they find themselves uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness had before concealed; they wear out life in altercations, and charge nature with cruelty.”

Samuel Johnson book The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

Source: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 29

“Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove
The pangs of guilty power and hapless love!
Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more;
Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before;
Sleep undisturb'd within this peaceful shrine,
Till angels wake thee with a note like thine!”

Epitaph on Claudius Philips, the Musician
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.”

June 1784, p. 545
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV

“[Of Lord Chesterfield] This man, I thought, had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords!”

1754
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

“I [Boswell] was somewhat disappointed in finding that the edition of The English Poets, for which he was to write Prefaces and Lives, was not an undertaking directed by him: but that he was to furnish a Preface and Life to any poet the booksellers pleased. I asked him if he would do this to any dunce's works, if they should ask him.
JOHNSON: "Yes, Sir, and say he was a dunce."”

September 14, 1777, p. 341
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III

“Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”

July 31, 1763, p. 132. [Several editions have the variant "hind legs".]
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

“I remember very well, when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me, "Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge; for when years come upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task."”

July 21, 1763, p. 126
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I