A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected.

—Samuel Johnson in The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

sadness adaptation hardship dejection

About Samuel Johnson

Portrait of Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson (18 September [O.S. 7 September] 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer and polymath who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer (creator of dictionaries). The work for which he is best known...

More quotations from Samuel Johnson

Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed.

—Samuel Johnson in The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

life enjoyment enduring

I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations.

—Samuel Johnson

history loss language

His scorn of the great is repeated too often to be real; no man thinks much of that which he despises.

—Samuel Johnson

accomplishment greatness hatred envy aspiration

Disposition to derision and insult is awakened by the softness to foppery, the swell of insolence, the liveliness of levity, or the solemnity of grandeur by the sprightly trip, the stately stalk, the formal strut, and the lofty mein by gestures intended to catch the eye, and by looks elaborately formed as evidences of importance.

—Samuel Johnson

walking insults liveliness levity affectation

There are people I know who won't hurt me. I call them corpses.

—Samuel Johnson

More quotations tagged with “sadness”

It is sad not to love, but it is much sadder not to be able to love.

—Miguel de Unamuno

love sadness openness

Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.

change sadness anger

Emotions, in my experience, aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret."… I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic train-car constructions, like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." I'd like to show how "intimations of mortality brought on by aging family members" connects to "the hatred of mirrors that begins in middle age." I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar.

—Jeffrey Eugenides

regret experience happiness joy sadness emotion

My feeling is that there is nothing in life but refraining from hurting others, and comforting those who are sad.

—Olive Schreiner

empathy life purpose sadness comfort do no harm

I was bored. Sad. Lonely. It was only a matter of time before I cracked.

—Sarah Dessen in The Truth About Forever

loneliness sadness boredom

History

12 Aug 2015 Added