Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.

—Samuel Johnson

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

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

—Samuel Johnson

When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart.

—Samuel Johnson

A curious part of the human psyche is that the moment that a person presumed to be in danger is discovered to be safe, everyone's anxiety turns into anger.

—Samuel Johnson

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.

—Samuel Johnson

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.

—Samuel Johnson

More quotations tagged with “praise”

Don't discuss yourself, for you are bound to lose; if you belittle yourself, you are believed; if you praise yourself, you are disbelieved.

—Michel de Montaigne

belief self-centeredness praise

You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand.

—Leonardo da Vinci

Praise the young and they will flourish.

—Irish Proverb

The meanest, most contemptible kind of praise is that which first speaks well of a man, and then qualifies it with a "but".

—Henry Ward Beecher

praise but qualification

Such praise coming from so degraded a source, was degrading to me, its recipient.

History

11 Jul 2015 Added