Samuel Johnson cytaty

strona 9

„Gdy dwóch Anglików się spotyka, mówią przede wszystkim o pogodzie.”

„Małżeństwa byłyby na ogół szczęśliwe, gdyby kojarzył je Lord Kanclerz po wnikliwym rozważeniu charakterów i okoliczności, a żadna ze stron nie miałaby w tej sprawie nic do powiedzenia.”

„Podnosisz głos, podczas gdy powinieneś wzmocnić swoje argumenty.”

„Choroba jest na ogół początkiem tego równania, którego wynikiem jest śmierć.”

„Jeżeli chcemy, by ludzie mówili prawdę, przede wszystkim nauczmy się jej słuchać.”

„Jeśli człowiek, idąc przez życie, nie zawiera nowych przyjaźni, wkrótce zostanie zupełnie sam. Przyjaźnie należy stale kultywować.”

„Odrobina pożądliwości nadaje dopiero życiu rozmach.”

„Żaden człowiek nie jest hipokrytą jedynie dla przyjemności.”

„Naturalny ruch ludzkiego umysłu odbywa się nie od przyjemności do przyjemności, ale od nadziei do nadziei.”

„Dobroć jest w naszej mocy, ale czułość już nie.”

„Fontanna zadowolenia wytryska z umysłu; a ten co posiadł tak małą wiedzę o ludzkiej naturze, że szuka szczęścia przez zmianę czegoś innego niż własnych skłonności, zmarnuje życie na bezowocnych wysiłkach i pomnoży żal, którego chciał się pozbyć.”

„Ponowne małżeństwo – to triumf nadziei nad doświadczeniem.”

„Sztuka pamiętania to sztuka koncentracji.”

„Tylko dureń nie pisze dla pieniędzy.”

„Patriotyzm jest ostatnim schronieniem szubrawców.”

„W życiu podążamy za potrzebami, a nie za zadowoleniem.”

„Dlaczego najgłośniej o wolności krzyczą nadzorcy niewolników?”

„W butelce rozgoryczeni szukają pocieszenia, tchórzliwi – odwagi, nieśmiali – pewności.”

„Ten, kto staje się potworem, zrzuca z siebie ciężar bycia człowiekiem.”

„Wspomnienia i przewidywania wypełniają prawie cały czas teraźniejszy.”

„Piekło jest wybrukowane dobrymi chęciami.”

„Poeta może sławić wiele dziewcząt, z którymi bałby się ożenić.”

„Człowiek zdolny to taki, który się ze mną zgadza.”

„Wiele ma przykrości małżeństwo, lecz w bezżeństwie nie masz rozkoszy.”

„Są dwa rodzaje wiedzy: kiedy posiadamy wiedzę w jakimś przedmiocie lub wiemy, gdzie znaleźć potrzebne informacje.”

“[The poet] must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations, as a being superior to time and place.”

“It is man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in old age.”

“The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.”

“A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone.”

“From Thee, great God: we spring, to Thee we tend,
Path, motive, guide, original, and end.”

“If the man who turnips cries,
Cry not when his father dies,
'Tis a proof that he had rather
Have a turnip than his father.”

“[Imlac continues] "It was never supposed that cogitation is inherent in matter, or that every particle is a thinking being. Yet, if any part of matter be devoid of thought, what part can we suppose to think? Matter can differ from matter only in form, density, bulk, motion, and direction of motion: to which of these, however varied or combined, can consciousness be annexed? To be round or square, to be solid or fluid, to be great or little, to be moved slowly or swiftly one way or another, are modes of material existence, all equally alien from the nature of cogitation. If matter be once without thought, it can only be made to think by some new modification, but all the modifications which it can admit are equally unconnected with cogitative powers."”

“He that thinks himself capable of astonishing may write blank verse: but those that hope only to please must condescend to rhyme.”

“If lawyers were to undertake no causes till they were sure they were just, a man might be precluded altogether from a trial of his claim, though, were it judicially examined, it might be found a very just claim.”

“I am very fond of the company of ladies. I like their beauty, I like their delicacy, I like their vivacity, and I like their silence.”

“A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian,
Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched,
And touched nothing that he did not adorn.”

“I remember a passage in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: "I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing."… There was another fine passage too which he struck out: "When I was a young man, being anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually starting new propositions. But I soon gave this over; for I found that generally what was new was false."”

“Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance and the parent of Liberty.”

“Cold approbation gave the ling'ring bays,
For those who durst not censure, scarce could praise.”

“Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking.”

“A fellow that makes no figure in company, and has a mind as narrow as the neck of a vinegar-cruet.”

“The richest author that ever grazed the common of literature.”

“We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know, because they have never deceived us.”

“No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library.”

“I never have sought the world; the world was not to seek me.”

“I have two very cogent reasons for not printing any list of subscribers; — one, that I have lost all the names, — the other, that I have spent all the money.”

“Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.”

“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.”

“How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?”

“A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing, when he has nothing to say.”

“I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.”

“Every state of society is as luxurious as it can be. Men always take the best they can get.”

“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!”

“To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.”