Samuel Johnson Quotes About Accidents

• The mathematicians are well acquainted with the difference between pure science, which has only to do with ideas, and the application of its laws to the use of life, in which they are constrained to submit to the imperfections of matter and the influence of accidents.

  Samuel Johnson

  Science, Law, Ideas

  Samuel Johnson (1820). “The Rambler”, p.74

• For sorrow there is no remedy provided by nature; it is often occasioned by accidents irreparable, and dwells upon objects that have lost or changed their existence; it requires what it cannot hope, that the laws of the universe should be repealed; that the dead should return, or the past should be recalled.

  Samuel Johnson

  Past, Law, Sorrow

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1840). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.83

• Men who stand in the highest ranks of society seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction and obtund remorse.

  Samuel Johnson

  Men, Hands, Opiates

  Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.65

• But to the particular species of excellence men are directed, not by an ascendant planet or predominating humour, but by the first book which they read, some early conversation which they heard, or some accident which excited ardour and emulation.

  Samuel Johnson

  Book, Men, Excellence

  Samuel Johnson (2009). “The Lives of the Poets: A Selection”, p.396, OUP Oxford

• He who sees different ways to the same end, will, unless he watches carefully over his own conduct, lay out too much of his attention upon the comparison of probabilities and the adjustment of expedients, and pause in the choice of his road, till some accident intercepts his journey.

  Samuel Johnson

  Journey, Choices, Too Much

  Samuel Johnson (1793). “The Rambler”, p.304

• It is good sense applied with diligence to what was at first a mere accident, and which by great application grew to be called, by the generality of mankind, a particular genius.

  Samuel Johnson

  Genius, Firsts, Diligence

  Samuel Johnson (1836). “Johnsoniana; or supplement to Boswell; being Anecdotes and sayings of Dr. Johnson, etc”, p.197

• Men, however distinguished by external accidents or intrinsick qualities, have all the same wants, the same pains, and, as far as the senses are consulted, the same pleasures.

  Samuel Johnson

  Pain, Men, Humanity

  Samuel Johnson (1823). “The works of Samuel Johnson”, p.203

• Whoever shall review his life, will find that the whole tenor of his conduct has been determined by some accident of no apparent moment.

  Samuel Johnson

  Determined, Moments, Reviews

  Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.190

• The most useful truths are always universal, and unconnected with accidents and customs.

  Samuel Johnson

  Humanity, Universal, Accidents

  Samuel Johnson (1804). “The beauties of Samuel Johnson: maxims and observations. To which are now added, biographical anecdotes of the doctor, his life [&c.].”, p.368

• It is certain that success naturally confirms in us a favourable opinion of our own abilities. Scarce any man is willing to allot to accident, friendship, and a thousand causes, which concur in every event without human contrivance or interposition, the part which they may justly claim in his advancement. We rate ourselves by our fortune rather than our virtues, and exorbitant claims are quickly produced by imaginary merit.

  Samuel Johnson

  Men, Events, May

  Samuel Johnson (1784). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes..”, p.68

• None but those who have learned the art of subjecting their senses as well as reason to hypothetical systems can be persuaded by the most specious rhetorician that the lots of life are equal; yet it cannot be denied that every one has his peculiar pleasures and vexations, that external accidents operate variously upon different minds, and that no man can exactly judge from his own sensations what another would feel in the same circumstances.

  Samuel Johnson

  Art, Men, Judging

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Hester Mulson Chapone, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1785). “The Rambler”, p.292

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