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
The round of a passionate man's life is in contracting debts in his passion, which his virtue obliges him to pay. He… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The morality of an action depends on the motive from which we act. If I fling half a crown to a beggar… — 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
To set the mind above the appetites is the end of abstinence, which one of the Fathers observes to be not a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
But grant, the virtues of a temp'rate prime Bless with an age exempt from scorn or crime; An age that melts with… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Virtue is uncommon in all the classes of humanity; and I suppose it will scarcely be imagined more frequent in a prison… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A student may easily exhaust his life in comparing divines and moralists without any practical regard to morals and religion; he may… — 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
Among those whose reputation is exhausted in a short time by its own luxuriance are the writers who take advantage of present… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
They whose activity of imagination is often shifting the scenes of expectation, are frequently subject to such sallies of caprice as make… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There are occasions on which it is noble to dare to stand alone. To be pious among infidels, to be disinterested in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The business of the biographer is often to pass slightly over those performances and incidents which produce vulgar greatness, to lead the… — 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
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
Among many parallels which men of imagination have drawn between the natural and moral state of the world, it has been observed… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To preserve health is a moral and religious duty: for health is the basis of all social virtues; and we can be… — 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
Since every man is obliged to promote happiness and virtue, he should be careful not to mislead unwary minds, by appearing to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“Be not too hasty," said Imlac, "to trust or to admire the teachers of morality: they discourse like angels, but they live… — 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
There is a certain degree of temptation which will overcome any virtue. Now, in so far as you approach temptation to a… — 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
Among the many inconsistencies which folly produces or infirmity suffers in the human mind, there has often been observed a manifest and… — 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
Nobody has the right to put another under such a difficulty that he must either hurt the person by telling the truth or hurt… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own self-esteem — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
