Samuel Johnson Quotes About Opportunity

• Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.

  Samuel Johnson

  Positive, Leadership, Wisdom

• He who fails to please in his salutation and address is at once rejected, and never obtains an opportunity of showing his latest excellences or essential qualities.

  Samuel Johnson

  Opportunity, Excellence, Quality

  Samuel Johnson (1836). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.: D., with an Essay on His Life and Genius”, p.253

• That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem.

  Samuel Johnson

  Inspirational, Positive, Self Esteem

  Samuel Johnson (1848). “The Wisdom of the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler”, p.132

• Man is a transitory being, and his designs must partake of the imperfections of their author. To confer duration is not always in our power. We must snatch the present moment, and employ it well, without too much solicitude for the future, and content ourselves with reflecting that our part is performed. He that waits for an opportunity to do much at once, may breathe out his life in idle wishes, and regret, in the last hour, his useless intentions and barren zeal.

  Samuel Johnson

  Regret, Opportunity, Men

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”

• Present opportunities are neglected, and attainable good is slighted, by minds busied in extensive ranges and intent upon future advantages.

  Samuel Johnson

  Opportunity, Mind, Advantage

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”

• The whole power of cunning is privative; to say nothing, and to do nothing , is the utmost of its reach. Yet men, thus narrow by nature and mean by art, are sometimes able to rise by the miscarriages of bravery and the openness of integrity, and, watching failures and snatching opportunities, obtain advantages which belong to higher characters.

  Samuel Johnson

  Art, Integrity, Character

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”

• To wipe all tears from off all faces is a task too hard for mortals; but to alleviate misfortunes is often within the most limited power: yet the opportunities which every day affords of relieving the most wretched of human beings are overlooked and neglected with equal disregard of policy and goodness.

  Samuel Johnson

  Opportunity, Tears, Tasks

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1837). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.169

• The hour of reformation is always delayed; every delay gives vice another opportunity of fortifying itself by habit.

  Samuel Johnson

  Opportunity, Giving, Vices

  Samuel Johnson (1827). “The Rambler”, p.16

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