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 world will never be long without some good reason to hate the unhappy; their real faults are immediately detected; and if… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Censure is willingly indulged, because it always implies some superiority: men please themselves with imagining that they have made a deeper search,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is the condition of our present state to see more than we can attain; the exactest vigilance and caution can never… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
That there is something in advice very useful and salutary, seems to be equally confessed on all hands; since even those that… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in old age. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Advice is offensive, not because it lays us open to unexpected regret, or convicts us of any fault which had escaped our… — 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
Every man has something to do which he neglects, every man has faults to conquer which he delays to combat. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There are indeed, in the present corruption of mankind, many incitements to forsake truth: the need of palliating our own faults and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In writing, as in life, faults are endured without disgust when they are associated with transcendent merit, and may be sometimes recommended… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The faults of a writer of acknowledged excellence are more dangerous, because the influence of his example is more extensive; and the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The care of the critic should be to distinguish error from inability, faults of inexperience from defects of nature. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Irresolution and mutability are often the faults of men whose views are wide, and whose imagination is vigorous and excursive. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Advice, as it always gives a temporary appearance of superiority, can never be very grateful, even when it is most necessary or… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The faults of a man loved or honoured sometimes steal secretly and imperceptibly upon the wise and virtuous, but by injudicious fondness… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Men who stand in the highest ranks of society seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When a friend is carried to his grave, we at once find excuses for every weakness, and palliation of every fault. We… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Few faults of style, whether real or imaginary, excite the malignity of a more numerous class of readers, than the use of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Self-love is often rather arrogant than blind; it does not hide our faults from ourselves, but persuades us that they escape the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No weakness of the human mind has more frequently incurred animadversion, than the negligence with which men overlook their own faults, however… — 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
