A man is not obliged honestly to answer a question which should not properly be put. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes in the farce of life. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Time is, of all modes of existence, most obsequious to the imagination. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Those that have done nothing in life, are not qualified to judge of those that have done little — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed. — 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
Life must be filled up, and the man who is not capable of intellectual pleasures must content himself with such as his… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Let observation with extensive view, Survey mankind from China to Peru; Remark each anxious toil, each eager strife, And watch the busy… — 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
The business of life summons us away from useless grief, and calls us to the exercise of those virtues of which we… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The main of life is composed of small incidents and petty occurrences; of wishes for objects not remote, and grief for disappointments… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Health is so necessary to all the duties, as well as pleasures of life, that the crime of squandering it is equal… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
That man is never happy for the present is so true, that all his relief from unhappiness is only forgetting himself for… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Sir, as a man advances in life, he gets what is better than admiration, - judgement, to estimate things at their true… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I have ever since (his wife's death) seemed to myself broken off from mankind; a kind of solitary wanderer in the wild… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Attainment is followed by neglect, possession by disgust, and the malicious remark of the Greek epigrammatist on marriage may be applied to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Patience and submission are very carefully to be distinguished from cowardice and indolence. We are not to repine, but we may lawfully… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Sleep is a state in which a great part of every life is passed. No animal has yet been discovered, whose existence… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A minute analysis of life at once destroys that splendor which dazzles the imagination. Whatsoever grandeur can display, or luxury enjoy, is… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The mathematicians are well acquainted with the difference between pure science, which has only to do with ideas, and the application of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
For sorrow there is no remedy provided by nature; it is often occasioned by accidents irreparable, and dwells upon objects that have… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The longer we live, and the more we think, the higher value we learn to put on the friendship and tenderness of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Life is a pill which none of us can bear to swallow without gilding. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The uncertainty of death is, in effect, the great support of the whole system of life. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every period of life is obliged to borrow its happiness from time to come. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Catch, then, oh! catch the transient hour, Improve each moment as it flies; Life's a short summer-man a flower; He dies-alas! how… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Those whose abilities or knowledge incline them most to deviate from the general round of life are recalled from eccentricity by the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Life admits not of delays; when pleasure can be had, it is fit to catch it. Every hour takes away part of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that embarks on the voyage of life will always wish to advance rather by the impulse of the wind than the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life . . . the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Surely a long life must be somewhat tedious, since we are forced to call in so many trifling things to help rid… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applause… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To me - the choice of life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I am sorry I have not learnt to play at cards. It is very useful in life: it generates kindness, and consolidates… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“Do not suffer life to stagnate, it will grow muddy for want of motion; commit yourself again to the current of the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. — 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
