The faults of a man loved or honoured sometimes steal secretly and imperceptibly upon the wise and virtuous, but by injudicious fondness… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In questions of law or of fact conscience is very often confounded with opinion. No man's conscience can tell him the rights… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction. A man is pleased that his wife is dressed… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Liberty is the parent of truth, but truth and decency are sometimes at variance. All men and all propositions are to be… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I do not see, Sir, that it is reasonable for a man to be angry at another, whom a woman has preferred… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is so far from being natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage, that we find… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The prospect of penury in age is so gloomy and terrifying that every man who looks before him must resolve to avoid… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A mere literary man is a dull man; a man who is solely a man of business is a selfish man; but… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Piety practiced in solitude, like the flower that blooms in the desert, may give its fragrance to the winds of heaven, and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I would injure no man, and should provoke no resentment. I would relieve every distress, and should enjoy the benedictions of gratitude.… — 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
Exercise cannot secure us from that dissolution to which we are decreed; but while the soul and body continue united, it can… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every man speaks and writes with intent to be understood; and it can seldom happen but he that understands himself, might convey… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The power, indeed, of every individual is small, and the consequence of his endeavours imperceptible, in a general prospect of the world.… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In the condition of men, it frequently happens that grief and anxiety lie hid under the golden robes of prosperity; and the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Disease generally begins that equality which death completes; the distinctions which set one man so much above another are very little perceived… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Some claim a place in the list of patriots, by an acrimonious and unremitting opposition to the court. This mark is by… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
So far is it from being true that men are naturally equal, that no two people can be half an hour together,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
John Wesley's conversation is good, but he is never at leisure. He is always obliged to go at a certain hour. This… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The belief of immortality is impressed upon all men, and all men act under an impression of it, however they may talk,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Pity is not natural to man. Children are always cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that resigns his peace to little casualties, and suffers the course of his life to be interrupted for fortuitous inadvertencies or… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No man reads a book of science from pure inclination. The books that we do read with pleasure are light compositions, which… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
As the faculty of writing has chiefly been a masculine endowment, the reproach of making the world miserable has always been thrown… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Nothing is more common than to find men, whose works are now totally neglected, mentioned with praises by their contemporaries as the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In civilized society external advantages make us more respected. A man with a good coat upon his back meets with a better… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole view do men engage in politics, and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Wine gives a man nothing. It neither gives him knowledge nor wit; it only animates a man, and enables him to bring… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I advised Chambers, and would advise every young man beginning to compose, to do it as fast as he can, to get… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A man of sense and education should meet a suitable companion in a wife. It is a miserable thing when the conversation… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense. He whom nature has made weak, and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No wonder, Sir, that he is vain; a man who is perpetually flattered in every mode that can be conceived. So many… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Among many parallels which men of imagination have drawn between the natural and moral state of the world, it has been observed… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Was there ever yet anything written by mere man that was wished longer by its readers, excepting Don Quixote, Robinson Crusoe, and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Wine gives great pleasure, and every pleasure is of itself a good. and A man should cultivate his mind so as to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I remember very well, when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me, "Young man, ply your book diligently now,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that is warm for truth, and fearless in its defense, performs one of the duties of a good man; he strenghtens… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every man is prompted by the love of himself to imagine that he possesses some qualities, superior, either in kind or degree,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The certainty that life cannot be long, and the probability that it will be much shorter than nature allows, ought to awaken… — 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
