Samuel Johnson - Sir Quotes

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Were it not for imagination, Sir, a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as of a Duchess.

Samuel Johnson
Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Samuel Johnson
A man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above him. A man when he gets into a higher sphere, into other habits of life, cannot keep up all his former connections. Then, Sir, those who knew him formerly upon a level with themselves, may think that they ought still to be treated as on a level, which cannot be; and an acquaintance in a former situation may bring out things which it would be very disagreeable to have mentioned before higher company, though, perhaps, everybody knows of them.

Samuel Johnson
Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists.

Samuel Johnson
Mrs. Montagu has dropt me. Now, Sir, there are people whom one should like very well to drop, but would not wish to be dropped by.

Samuel Johnson
"Are you a botanist, Dr. Johnson?" "No, Sir, (answered Johnson,) I am not a botanist; and, (alluding no doubt, to his near sightedness) should I wish to become a botanist, I must first turn myself into a reptile."

Samuel Johnson
Elphinston: What, have you not read it through?
Johnson: No, Sir, do you read books through?

Samuel Johnson
Sir, a man who cannot get to heaven in a green coat, will not find his way thither the sooner in a grey one.

Samuel Johnson
Always, Sir, set a high value on spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship of his own accord, will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you.

Samuel Johnson
Not impressed with the performance of a virtuoso violinist:
Difficult do you call it, Sir? I wish it were impossible.

Samuel Johnson
There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

Samuel Johnson
A lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes, unless his client asks his opinion, and then he is bound to give it honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the judge. Consider, sir; what is the purpose of courts of justice? It is, that every man may have his cause fairly tried, by men appointed to try causes. A lawyer is not to tell what he knows to be a lie: he is not to produce what he knows to be a false deed; but he is not to usurp the province of the jury and of the judge, and determine what shall be the effect of evidence — what shall be the result of legal argument.

Samuel Johnson
Johnson: As I cannot be sure that I have fulfilled the conditions on which salvation is granted, I am afraid I may be one of those who shall be damned (looking dismally).
Dr. Adams: What do you mean by damned?
Johnson: (passionately and loudly) Sent to Hell, Sir, and punished everlastingly.

Samuel Johnson
Sir, I have no objection to a man's drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt to go to excess in it, and therefore, after having been for some time without it, on account of illness, I thought it better not to return to it. Every man is to judge for himself, according to the effects which he experiences.

Samuel Johnson
Greek, sir, is like lace; every man gets as much of it as he can.

Samuel Johnson
Sir, sorrow is inherent in humanity. As you cannot judge two and two to be either five, or three, but certainly four, so, when comparing a worse present state with a better which is past, you cannot but feel sorrow. It is not cured by reason, but by the incursion of present objects, which bear out the past.

Samuel Johnson
On being told that it would not be possible to finish his Dictionary in three years, because the French Academy, that consists of forty members, took forty years to compile the French dictionary:
Sir, thus it is. This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to a Frenchman.

Samuel Johnson
Sir, they are a race of convicts and ought to be grateful for anything we allow them short of hanging.

Samuel Johnson
Sir, I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance.

Samuel Johnson
One day at Streatham…a young gentleman called to him suddenly, and I suppose he thought disrespectfully, in these words: 'Mr Johnson, would you advise me to marry?' 'I would advise no man to marry, Sir,' returns for answer in a very angry tone Dr Johnson, 'who is not likely to propagate understanding.'

Samuel Johnson
Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me. I am sick of both.

Samuel Johnson
Nay, Sir, those who write in them, write well, in order to be paid well.

Samuel Johnson
I do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject.

Samuel Johnson
Of Sir John Hawkins:
A very unclubable man.

Samuel Johnson
Of Pembroke College:
Sir, we are a nest of singing birds.

Samuel Johnson
Ah! Sir, a boy's being flogged is not so severe as a man's having the hiss of the world against him.

Samuel Johnson
No, Sir, you will have much more influence by giving or lending money where it is wanted, than by hospitality.

Samuel Johnson
Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in full confidence both of my love and my esteem; I love you as a kind man, I value you as a worthy man, and hope in time to reverence you as a man of exemplary piety.

Samuel Johnson
Boswell: Sir, what is poetry?
Johnson: Why Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what light is; but it is not easy to tell what it is.

Samuel Johnson
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.

Samuel Johnson