The pleasures of sudden wonder are soon exhausted, and the…

The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.

— Samuel Johnson

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

You can never be wise unless you love reading.

— Samuel Johnson

If our aim is to praise, we should forget to criticize; if our aim is to criticize, we should remember to praise

— Samuel Johnson

All theory is against free will; all experience is for it.

— Samuel Johnson

Had I learned to fiddle, I should have done nothing else.

— Samuel Johnson

It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife.

— Samuel Johnson

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

The basis of all excellence is truth: he that professes love ought to feel its power.

— Samuel Johnson

Words are daughters of earth but ideas are sons of heaven.

— Samuel Johnson

“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

“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

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

That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own self-esteem

— Samuel Johnson

The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die.

— Samuel Johnson