I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.

[ Of a man who remarried after the death of his first wife, with whom he had been unhappy :] The triumph of hope over experience.

Johnson observed, that “he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney .”

BOSEWELL: But is not the fear of death natural to man?

Being told she was remarkable for her humility and condescension to inferiors, he observed, that those were very laudable qualities, but it might not be so easy to discover who the lady’s inferiors were.

So far is it from being true that men are naturally equal, that no two people can be half an hour together, but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other.

Sir, we know our will is free, and there’s an end on ’t.

[ In response to Boswell’s observation that George Berkeley’s theory of the nonexistence of matter could not be refuted, Johnson kicked a large stone and said :] I refute it thus .

[ Of John Hawkins :] Sir John, Sir, is a very unclubable man.

This was a good dinner enough, to be sure; but it was not a dinner to ask a man to.