6 Samuel Johnson Quotes on Integrity

Samuel Johnson quotes on integrity

10. I have, all my life long, been lying till noon; yet I tell all young men, and tell them with great sincerity, that nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good.

49. It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

86. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

91. The greater, far the greater number of those who rave and rail, and inquire and accuse, neither suspect nor fear, nor care for the publick; but hope to force their way to riches, by virulence and invective, and are vehement and clamorous, only that they may be sooner hired to be silent.

152. I [Boswell] was somewhat disappointed in finding that the edition of The English Poets, for which he was to write Prefaces and Lives, was not an undertaking directed by him: but that he was to furnish a Preface and Life to any poet the booksellers pleased. I asked him if he would do this to any dunce's works, if they should ask him. JOHNSON: 'Yes, Sir, and say he was a dunce.'

157. It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world.