Sir, you must not neglect doing a thing immediately good from fear of remote evil; -from fear of its being abused. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
An Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The happiness of London is not to be conceived but by those who have been in it. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Human happiness has always its abatements; the brightest sunshine of success is not without a cloud. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
All severity that does not tend to increase good, or prevent evil, is idle. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Little would be wanting to the happiness of life, if every man could conform to the right as soon as he was… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The happiness of building lasted but a little while, for though I love to spend, I hate to be cheated; and I… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In civilized society we all depend upon each other, and our happiness is very much owing to the good opinion of mankind. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
So scanty is our present allowance of happiness that in many situations life could scarcely be supported if hope were not allowed… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
That all who are happy are equally happy is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
What we read with inclination makes a much stronger impression. If we read without inclination, half the mind is employed in fixing… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is scarcely any writer who has not celebrated the happiness of rural privacy, and delighted himself and his reader with the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is certainly no greater happiness than to be able to look back on a life usefully and virtuously employed, to trace… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Such is the state of every age, every sex, and every condition: all have their cares, either from nature or from folly;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It would add much to human happiness, if an art could be taught of forgetting all of which the remembrance is at… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Idleness is often covered by turbulence and hurry. He that neglects his known duty and real employment naturally endeavours to crowd his… — 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
Deceit and falsehood, whatever conveniences they may for a time promise or produce, are, in the sum of life, obstacles to happiness.… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern... No, Sir; there is… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and… — 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
The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If we will have the kindness of others, we must endure their follies. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every period of life is obliged to borrow its happiness from time to come. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To hear complaints is wearisome alike to the wretched and the happy. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Labor, if it were not necessary for existence, would be indispensable for the happiness of man. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The disturbers of our happiness, in this world, are our desires, our griefs, and our fears. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Were it not for imagination, a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as a dutchess — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Nothing flatters a man as much as the happiness of his wife; he is always proud of himself as the source of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The disturbers of happiness are our desires, our griefs, and our fears. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Terrestrial happiness is of short duration. The brightness of the flame is wasting its fuel; the fragrant flower is passing away in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own dispositions will waste… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Philosophers there are who try to make themselves believe that this life is happy; but they believe it only while they are… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Since every man is obliged to promote happiness and virtue, he should be careful not to mislead unwary minds, by appearing to… — 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
