Some read for style, and some for argument: one has little care about the sentiment, he observes only how it is expressed;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Assertion is not argument; to contradict the statement of an opponent is not proof that you are correct. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Oratory is the power of beating down your adversary's arguments and putting better in their place. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The arguments for purity of life fail of their due influence, not because they have been considered and confuted, but because they… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Prejudice is a great time-saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts. Prejudice not being founded on reason cannot… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There prevails among men of letters, an opinion, that all appearance of science is particularly hateful to Women; and that therefore whoever… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The mental disease of the present generation is impatience of study, contempt of the great masters of ancient wisdom, and a disposition… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
All the arguments which are brought to represent poverty as no evil show it evidently to be a great evil. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
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 Image
The basis of all excellence is truth: he that professes love ought to feel its power. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“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 Image
“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 Image