To dread no eye and to suspect no tongue is the great prerogative of innocence--an exemption granted only to invariable virtue. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Wickedness is always easier than virtue; for it takes the short cut to everything. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He who would govern his actions by the laws of virtue must regulate his thoughts by those of reason. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
..to write and to live are very different. Many who praise virtue, do no more than praise it. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Be not too hasty to trust or to admire the teachers of morality; they discourse like angels, but they live like men. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Almost all the moral good which is left among us is the apparent effect of physical evil. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Most men are more willing to indulge in easy vices than to practise laborious virtues. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Scarce any man becomes eminently disagreeable but by a departure from his real character, and an attempt at something for which nature… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The round of a passionate man's life is in contracting debts in his passion, which his virtue obliges him to pay. He… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The morality of an action depends on the motive from which we act. If I fling half a crown to a beggar… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is necessary to the success of flattery, that it be accommodated to particular circumstances or characters, and enter the heart on… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
More knowledge may be gained of a man's real character by a short conversation with one of his servants than from a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In youth, it is common to measure right and wrong by the opinion of the world, and in age, to act without… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
On Sir Joshua Reynolds's observing that the real character of a man was found out by his amusements. Yes, Sir, no man… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In writing, as in life, faults are endured without disgust when they are associated with transcendent merit, and may be sometimes recommended… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A student may easily exhaust his life in comparing divines and moralists without any practical regard to morals and religion; he may… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Wisdom and virtue are by no means sufficient, without the supplemental laws of good-breeding, to secure freedom from degenerating into rudeness, or… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Among those whose reputation is exhausted in a short time by its own luxuriance are the writers who take advantage of present… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
They whose activity of imagination is often shifting the scenes of expectation, are frequently subject to such sallies of caprice as make… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A successful author is equally in danger of the diminution of his fame, whether he continues or ceases to write. The regard… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The whole power of cunning is privative; to say nothing, and to do nothing , is the utmost of its reach. Yet… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The art of the writer, like that of the player, is attained by slow degrees. The power of distinguishing and discriminating comick… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The greatest human virtue bears no proportion to human vanity. We always think ourselves better than we are, and are generally desirous… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every man prefers virtue, when there is not some strong incitement to transgress its precepts. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To set the mind above the appetites is the end of abstinence, which if not a virtue, is the groundwork of a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Contempt is a kind of gangrene which, if it seizes one part of a character, corrupts all the rest by degrees. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is to be steadily inculcated, that virtue is the highest proof of understanding, and the only solid basis of greatness. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Marriage is the best state for man in general, and every man is a worst man in proportion to the level he… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Glory, the casual gift of thoughtless crowds! Glory, the bribe of avaricious virtue! — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Words become low by the occasions to which they are applied, or the general character of them who use them; and the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Never believe extraordinary characters which you hear of people. Depend upon it, they are exaggerated. You do not see one man shoot… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
[C]ourage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
If our aim is to praise, we should forget to criticize; if our aim is to criticize, we should remember to praise — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
The basis of all excellence is truth: he that professes love ought to feel its power. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
“The composition of Shakespeare is a forest, in which oaks extend in the air, interspersed sometimes with weeds and brambles, and sometimes giving shelting… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
“The cherubim were never intended as an object of worship, because they were only the appendices to another thing. But a thing is then… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
Nobody has the right to put another under such a difficulty that he must either hurt the person by telling the truth or hurt… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own self-esteem — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
![“[C]ourage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.” quote by Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/e50/samuel-johnson-50_be-brave_c-ourage-is-reckoned-the-greatest-of-all_2699825.png)
