There lurks, perhaps, in every human heart a desire of distinction, which inclines every man first to hope, and then to believe,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every man is prompted by the love of himself to imagine that he possesses some qualities, superior, either in kind or degree,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Nothing is more common than for men to make partial and absurd distinctions between vices of equal enormity, and to observe some… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is reason to suspect, that the distinctions of mankind have more show than value, when it is found that all agree… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Disease generally begins that equality which death completes; the distinctions which set one man so much above another are very little perceived… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The violence of war admits no distinction; the lance, that is lifted at guilt and power, will sometimes fall on innocence and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Such seems to be the disposition of man, that whatever makes a distinction produces rivalry. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that compares what he has done with what he has left undone, will feel the effect which must always follow the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
We are easily shocked by crimes which appear at once in their full magnitude, but the gradual growth of our own wickedness,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To scatter praise or blame without regard to justice is to destroy the distinction of good and evil. Many have no other… — 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
