Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
We ought not to raise expectations which it is not in our power to satisfy.-It is more pleasing to see smoke brightening… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Let me rejoice in the light which Thou hast imparted; let me serve Thee with active zeal, humbled confidence, and wait with… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The hapless wit has his labors always to begin, the call for novelty is never satisfied, and one jest only raises expectation… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Though the discoveries or acquisitions of man are not always adequate to the expectations of his pride, they are at least sufficient… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity. It becomes cheap as it becomes vulgar, and will no… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He who expects much will be often disappointed; yet disappointment seldom cures us of expectation, or has any other effect than that… — 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
No cause more frequently produces bashfulness than too high an opinion of our own importance. He that imagines an assembly filled with… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I know not anything more pleasant, or more instructive, than to compare experience with expectation, or to register from time to time… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords: but, like all other pleasures immoderately… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is generally allowed, that no man ever found the happiness of possession proportionate to that expectation which incited his desire, and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is commonly supposed that the uniformity of a studious life affords no matter for narration: but the truth is, that of… — 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
