Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
These are the men who, without virtue, labour, or hazard, are growing rich, as their country is impoverished; they rejoice, when obstinacy… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present,… — 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
Among the numerous stratagems by which pride endeavors to recommend folly to regard, there is scarcely one that meets with less success… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
So willing is every man to flatter himself, that the difference between approving laws, and obeying them, is frequently forgotten; he that… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Wisdom and virtue are by no means sufficient, without the supplemental laws of good-breeding, to secure freedom from degenerating into rudeness, or… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is necessary to the success of flattery, that it be accommodated to particular circumstances or characters, and enter the heart on… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
More knowledge may be gained of a man's real character by a short conversation with one of his servants than from a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If misery be the effect of virtue, it ought to be reverenced; if of ill-fortune, to be pitied; and if of vice,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
..to write and to live are very different. Many who praise virtue, do no more than praise it. — 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
Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The art of the writer, like that of the player, is attained by slow degrees. The power of distinguishing and discriminating comick… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Scarce any man becomes eminently disagreeable but by a departure from his real character, and an attempt at something for which nature… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Almost all the moral good which is left among us is the apparent effect of physical evil. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Never believe extraordinary characters which you hear of people. Depend upon it, they are exaggerated. You do not see one man shoot… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Wickedness is always easier than virtue; for it takes the short cut to everything. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To preserve health is a moral and religious duty, for health is the basis of all social virtues. We can no longer… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature, to make any man's virtues the means of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Words become low by the occasions to which they are applied, or the general character of them who use them; and the… — 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
