Samuel Johnson Zitate

seite 3

„Freundschaften sind wie alte Dächer, man muss sie ständig reparieren, damit sie halten.“

„Neugierde ist in grosszügigen Köpfen die erste Leidenschaft und die letzte.“

„Die Hölle ist mit guten Vorsätzen gepflastert.“

„Es gibt zwei Arten von Wissen. Wir wissen etwas selbst oder wir wissen, wo wir uns über etwas sachkundig machen können.“

„Wenn wir sehen, wie die Menschen altern und nach gewisser Zeit einer nach dem anderen sterben, Jahrhundert für Jahrhundert, dann können wir nur lachen über das Elixier, das die Verlängerung des Lebens auf über tausend Jahre verspricht; mit gleichem Recht ist der Lexikograph zu verspotten, der ohne das Beispiel einer Nation anführen zu können, die ihre Wörter und Ausdrücke vor Veränderlichkeit bewahrte, sich einbildet, sein Wörterbuch könne seine Sprache einbalsamieren, vor Verfälschung schützen und Verfall, und der meint, es stehe in seiner Macht, irdische Natur zu ändern oder die Welt mit einem Schlag von Verrücktheit, Eitelkeit und Affektiertheit zu befreien.“

„Eine Frau, die versucht zu predigen, ist wie ein Hund, der versucht, auf den Hinterbeinen zu laufen. Es klappt nicht gut, aber man ist überrascht, dass es überhaupt funktioniert.“

„Wenn jemand Londons überdrüssig ist, ist er des Lebens überdrüssig; denn in London hat man alles, was das Leben bieten kann.“

“Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.”

“A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.”

“This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.”

“Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”

“While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.”

“Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”

“Justice is my being allowed to do whatever I like. Injustice is whatever prevents my doing so.”

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

“New things are made familiar, and familiar things are made new.”

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

“He who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything.”

“You can never be wise unless you love reading.”

“If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle.”

“Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument.”

“Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.”

“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.”

“A man may be so much of every thing, that he is nothing of any thing.”

“The only end of writing is to enable the readers better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”

“Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.”

“There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.”

“We never do anything consciously for the last time without sadness of heart.”

“People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.”

“As I know more of mankind, I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly.”

“Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence."

(, 1757.)”

“I had done all that I could, and no Man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little.”

“Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.”

“Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.”

“That we must all die, we always knew; I wish I had remembered it sooner.”

“The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.”