The care of the critic should be to distinguish error from inability, faults of inexperience from defects of nature. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage, Till pitying Nature signs the last release, And bids afflicted worth retire to peace. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
An epithet or metaphor drawn from nature ennobles art; an epithet or metaphor drawn from art degrades nature. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is reason to suspect, that the distinctions of mankind have more show than value, when it is found that all agree… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Many of our miseries are merely comparative: we are often made unhappy, not by the presence of any real evil, but by… — 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
I am not yet so lost in lexicography, as to forget that words are the daughters of the earth, and that things… — 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
Plenty is the original cause of many of our needs; and even the poverty, which is so frequent and distressful in civilized… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Novelty is indeed necessary to preserve eagerness and alacrity; but art and nature have stores inexhaustible by human intellects, and every moment… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The luster of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Surely nothing is more reproachful to a being endowed with reason, than to resign its powers to the influence of the air,… — 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
“Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It ought to be the first endeavour of a writer to distinguish nature from custom; or that which is established because it… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Men who have flattered themselves into this opinion of their own abilities, look down on all who waste their lives over books,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“That this is a practice contrary to the rules of criticism will be readily allowed; but there is always an appeal open… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
All violation of established practice implies in its own nature a rejection of the common opinion, a defiance of common censure, and… — 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
It is the great privilege of poverty to be happy and yet unenvied, to be healthy with physic, secure without a guard,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Religion informs us that misery and sin were produced together. The depravation of human will was followed by a disorder of the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The accidental prescriptions of authority, when time has procured them veneration, are often confounded with the laws of nature, and those rules… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
[The poet] must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts… — 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
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
No man is by nature the property of another. The defendant is, therefore, by nature free. — 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
![“[The poet] must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations, as a being superior to time and place.” quote by Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/668/samuel-johnson-50_future-generation_the-poet-must-write-as-the-interpreter-o_3180253.png)
