Such is the emptiness of human enjoyment that we are always impatient of the present. Attainment is followed by neglect, and possession… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Attainment is followed by neglect, possession by disgust, and the malicious remark of the Greek epigrammatist on marriage may be applied to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
That eminence of learning is not to be gained without labour, at least equal to that which any other kind of greatness… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
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
At length weariness succeeds to labor, and the mind lies at ease in the contemplation of her own attainments without any desire… — 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
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
Few men survey themselves with so much severity as not to admit prejudices in their own favour, which an artful flatterer may… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Among the lower classes of mankind there will be found very little desire of any other knowledge than what may contribute immediately… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Affectation naturally counterfeits those excellences which are placed at the greatest distance from possibility of attainment, because, knowing our own defects, we… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
All envy is proportionate to desire; we are uneasy at the attainments of another, according as we think our own happiness would… — 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
