We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us.

—Samuel Johnson

knowledge belief lies lying intimacy

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

Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.

—Samuel Johnson

music taste preference noise

Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say.

—Samuel Johnson

relationships silence people conversation

Love is only one of many passions.

—Samuel Johnson

Wine makes a man more pleased with himself; I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others.

—Samuel Johnson

relationships alcohol wine intoxication socialization

Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.

—Samuel Johnson

humanity ignorance intelligence knowledge work

More quotations tagged with “intimacy”

If we’d never met, I think I would have known my life wasn’t complete. And I would have wandered the world in search of you, even if I didn’t know who I was looking for.

—Nicholas Sparks in The Longest Ride

life intimacy seeking completeness

Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.

—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

love relationships intimacy

If fear is the great enemy of intimacy, love is its true friend.

—Henri Nouwen

love fear friendship intimacy

Our moment had passed somehow. I was different. He was, too. Without our “madness” to unite us, there wasn’t anything much there. Or maybe too much had happened in too short a time. It’s like when you take a trip with someone you don’t know very well. Sometimes you can get very close very quickly, but then after the trip is over, you realize all that was a false sort of closeness. An intimacy based on the trip more than the travelers, if that makes any sense.

—Gabrielle Zevin in Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

love relationship intimacy

If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate.

—Elbert Hubbard

relationships knowledge hatred intimacy

History

13 May 2014 Added