Samuel Johnson - Sir Quotes

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No wonder, Sir, that he is vain; a man who is perpetually flattered in every mode that can be conceived. So many bellows have blown the fire, that one wonders he is not by this time become a cinder.

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
Sir, you must not neglect doing a thing immediately good from fear of remote evil; -from fear of its being abused.

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

Samuel Johnson
Consider, Sir, how insignificant this will appear a twelvemonth hence.

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
Of Sir John Hawkins:
A very unclubable man.

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
When I observed he was a fine cat, saying, 'Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this'; and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, 'but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.'

Samuel Johnson
Sir, your levelers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear leveling up to themselves.

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
Truth, Sir, is a cow, that will yield such people [sceptics] no more milk, and so they are gone to milk the bull.

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

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
Sir, I did not count your glasses of wine, why should you number up my cups of tea?

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

Samuel Johnson
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.

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
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
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
No, Sir, 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
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.

Samuel Johnson
Employment, sir, and hardships prevent melancholy.

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

Samuel Johnson
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."

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
Sir, 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.

Samuel Johnson