A short letter to a distant friend is, in my opinion, an insult like that of a slight bow or cursory salutation — a proof of unwillingness to do much, even where there is a necessity of doing something. – Samuel Johnson
My diseases are an asthma and a dropsy and, what is less curable, seventy-five. – Samuel Johnson
Getting money is not all a mans business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. – Samuel Johnson
Fly fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other. – Samuel Johnson
In a mans letters you know, Madam, his soul lies naked, his letters are only the mirror of his breast, whatever passes within him is shown undisguised in its natural process. Nothing is inverted, nothing distorted, you see systems in their elements, you discover actions in their motives. – Samuel Johnson