Such is the uncertainty of human affairs, that security and despair are equal follies; and as it is presumption and arrogance to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Vulgar and inactive minds confound familiarity with knowledge, and conceive themselves informed of the whole nature of things, when they are shown… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To excite opposition and inflame malevolence is the unhappy privilege of courage made arrogant by consciousness of strength. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No cause more frequently produces bashfulness than too high an opinion of our own importance. He that imagines an assembly filled with… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Without good humour, learning and bravery can only confer that superiority which swells the heart of the lion in the desert, where… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Few have abilities so much needed by the rest of the world as to be caressed on their own terms; and he… — 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
To proportion the eagerness of contest to its importance seems too hard a task for human wisdom. The pride of wit has… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Critics ought never to be consulted, but while errors may yet be rectified or insipidity suppressed. But when the book has once… — 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
Among the innumerable mortifications which waylay human arrogance on every side may well be reckoned our ignorance of the most common objects… — 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
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
