Samuel Johnson

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest.

The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book.

Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates.

Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, and sign your will before you sup from home.

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess.

The future is purchased by the present.

If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.