The present time is seldom able to fill desire or imagination with immediate enjoyment, and we are forced to supply its deficiencies… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Composition is for the most part an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverance, to which the mind is dragged by necessity… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
But though it cannot be reasonable not to gain happiness for fear of losing it, yet it must be confessed, that in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
We are easily shocked by crimes which appear at once in their full magnitude, but the gradual growth of our own wickedness,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A good wife is like the ivy which beautifies the building to which it clings, twining its tendrils more lovingly as time… — 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
He that outlives a wife whom he has long loved, sees himself disjoined from the only mind that has the same hopes,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is not indeed certain, that the most refined caution will find a proper time for bringing a man to the knowledge… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Man is a transitory being, and his designs must partake of the imperfections of their author. To confer duration is not always… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
How many may a man of diffusive conversation count among his acquaintances, whose lives have been signalized by numberless escapes; who never… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There are occasions on which it is noble to dare to stand alone. To be pious among infidels, to be disinterested in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I am far from any intention to limit curiosity, or confine the labours of learning to arts of immediate and necessary use.… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I am not able to instruct you. I can only tell that I have chosen wrong. I have passed my time in… — 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
He to whom many objects of pursuit arise at the same time, will frequently hesitate between different desires till a rival has… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It may be observed in general that the future is purchased by the present. It is not possible to secure distant or… — 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
Such is the pleasure of projecting that many content themselves with a succession of visionary schemes, and wear out their allotted time… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every reader should remember the diffidence of Socrates, and repair by his candour the injuries of time: he should impute the seeming… — 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
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)
