Among the numerous requisites that must concur to complete an author, few are of more importance than an early entrance into the living world. The seed of knowledge may be planted in solitude, but must be cultivated in public. Argumentation may be taught in colleges, and theories formed in retirement; but the artifice of embellishment and the powers of attraction can be gained only by a general converse.
Samuel JohnsonI do not much wish well to discoveries, for I am always afraid they will end in conquest and robbery.
Samuel JohnsonGetting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.
Samuel JohnsonThere is less flogging in our great schools than formerly-but then less is learned there; so what the boys get at one end they lose at the other.
Samuel JohnsonIt is no matter what you teach them first, any more than what leg you shall put into your breeches first. You may stand disputing which is best to put in first, but in the mean time your breech is bare. Sir, while you are considering which of two things you should teach your child first, another boy has learned them both.
Samuel Johnson