Quote #126

Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an excess of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature.

More from Samuel Johnson

  1. I remember very well, when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me, 'Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of k…
  2. 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.
  3. But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoo…
  4. I [Boswell] happened to say, it would be terrible if he should not find a speedy opportunity of returning to London, and be confined in so …
  5. A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.
  6. I refute it thus.
  7. Norway, too, has noble wild prospects; and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. But, Sir, let me tell you, the nobles…
  8. Why, Sir, it is difficult to settle the proportion of iniquity between them.

All Samuel Johnson quotes