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
Abuse is often of service. There is nothing so dangerous to an author as silence. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
You may translate books of science exactly. ... The beauties of poetry cannot be preserved in any language except that in which… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“A man who writes a book, thinks himself wiser or wittier than the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The man who is asked by an author what he thinks of his work is put to the torture and is not… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
What is read twice is usually remembered more than what is once written. — 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
The task of an author is, either to teach what is not known, or to recommend known truths by his manner of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Books that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Books to judicious compilers, are useful; to particular arts and professions, they are absolutely necessary; to men of real science, they are… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The purpose of a writer is to be read, and the criticism which would destroy the power of pleasing must be blown… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
People seldom read a book which is given to them; and few are given. The way to spread a work is to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There seems to be a strange affectation in authors of appearing to have done everything by chance. — 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
A transition from an author's book to his conversation is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is ... scarcely any species of writing of which we can tell what is its essence, and what are its constituents;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically, except in narrative; grow weary of preparation, and connection, and illustration,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A successful author is equally in danger of the diminution of his fame, whether he continues or ceases to write. The regard… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is scarcely any writer who has not celebrated the happiness of rural privacy, and delighted himself and his reader with the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes in the farce of life. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“The chief advantage which these fictions have over real life is, that their authors are at liberty, though not to invent, yet… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Those authors who would find many readers, must endeavour to please while they instruct. — 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
