Samuel Johnson idézet

oldal 10

„A titok megtartása bölcsesség, de elvárni, hogy mások is megtartsák, ostobaság.”

„Ha az ember nem köt új ismeretségeket az élete során, végül egyedül marad. Az embernek, uram, állandóan karban kell tartania a barátságait.”

„A szerelem a bolond bölcsessége és a bölcs bolondsága.”

„Az emlékezet minden bölcsesség anyja.”

„A barátságot, akárcsak a szerelmet, a hosszú távollét tönkreteszi, bár rövid szünetekkel tovább tarthat.”

„Senki sem mehet vissza és kezdhet újra, de bárki elkezdheti a mai napot és új befejezéssel zárhatja le.”

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

“But, scarce observ'd, the knowing and the bold
Fall in the gen'ral massacre of gold.”

“A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected.”

“He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.”

“Johnson said that he could repeat a complete chapter of "The Natural History of Iceland" from the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly thus: "There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island." 62”

“All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.”

“This world, where much is to be done and little to be known.”

“It is strange that there should be so little reading in the world, and so much writing. People in general do not willingly read, if they can have any thing else to amuse them.”

“Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious.”

“GRUBSTREET — The name of a street near Moorsfield, London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems.”

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

“Towering is the confidence of twenty-one.”

“A lady once asked him how he came to define 'pastern', the knee of a horse: instead of making an elaborate defence, as might be expected, he at once answered, "Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance."”

“As with my hat upon my head
I walk'd along the Strand,
I there did meet another man
With his hat in his hand.”

“I fly from pleasure," said the prince, "because pleasure has ceased to please; I am lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others.”

“Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed.”

“There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.”

“LEXICOGRAPHER — A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.”

“But it is evident, that these bursts of universal distress are more dreaded than felt; thousands and ten thousands flourish in youth, and wither in age, without the knowledge of any other than domestic evils, and share the same pleasures and vexa­tions, whether their kings are mild or cruel, whether the armies of their country pursue their enemies or retreat before them.”

“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."”

“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.”

“Hunting was the labour of the savages of North America, but the amusement of the gentlemen of England.”

“By Numbers here from Shame or Censure free,
All Crimes are safe, but hated Poverty.
This, only this, the rigid Law persues,
This, only this, provokes the snarling Muse.”

“An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay,
And glides in modest innocence away.”

“That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.”

“A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.”

“Officious, innocent, sincere,
Of every friendless name the friend.”

“He that would pass the latter part of life with honour and decency, must, when he is young, consider that he shall one day be old; and remember, when he is old, that he has once been young.”

“A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.”