Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Few things are so liberally bestowed, or squandered with so little effect, as good advice. — 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
The uncertainty of death is, in effect, the great support of the whole system of life. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Cunning has effect from the credulity of others, rather than from the abilities of those who are cunning. It requires no extraordinary… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He who expects much will be often disappointed; yet disappointment seldom cures us of expectation, or has any other effect than that… — 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
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
The wickedness of a loose or profane author is more atrocious than that of a giddy libertine or drunken ravisher, not only… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Sir, I have no objection to a man's drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Among the innumerable mortifications which waylay human arrogance on every side may well be reckoned our ignorance of the most common objects… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No man, however enslaved to his appetites, or hurried by his passions, can, while he preserves his intellects unimpaired, please himself with… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The great end of prudence is to give cheerfulness to those hours which splendour cannot gild, and acclamation cannot exhilarate; those soft… — 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
The power, indeed, of every individual is small, and the consequence of his endeavours imperceptible, in a general prospect of the world.… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The true effect of genuine politeness seems to be rather ease than pleasure. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The great effect of friendship is beneficence, yet by the first act of uncommon kindness it is endangered. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Where no man thinks himself under any obligation to submit to another, and, instead of co-operating in one great scheme, every one… — 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
