It is good sense applied with diligence to what was at first a mere accident, and which by great application grew to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The mental disease of the present generation is impatience of study, contempt of the great masters of ancient wisdom, and a disposition… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Milton, Madam, was a genius that could cut a Colossus from a rock; but could not carve heads upon cherry-stones. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No estimate is more in danger of erroneous calculations than those by which a man computes the force of his own genius. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such, We scarcely can praise it or blame it too much; Who, born for… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is ... scarcely any species of writing of which we can tell what is its essence, and what are its constituents;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The love of retirement has in all ages adhered closely to those minds which have been most enlarged by knowledge, or elevated… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that would travel for the entertainment of others, should remember that the great object of remark is human life. Every nation… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To exact of every man who writes that he should say something new, would be to reduce authors to a small number;… — 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
As not every instance of similitude can be considered as a proof of imitation, so not every imitation ought to be stigmatised… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Genius is that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Remember that nothing will supply the want of prudence, and that negligence and irregularity long continued will make knowledge useless, wit ridiculous,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Genius now and then produces a lucky trifle. We still read the Dove of Anacreon, and Sparrow of Catullus; and a writer… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is a certain race of men that either imagine it their duty, or make it their amusement, to hinder the reception… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The mental disease of the present generation is impatience of study, contempt of the great masters of ancient wisdom, and a disposition… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To write is, indeed, no unpleasing employment, when one sentiment readily produces another, and both ideas and expressions present themselves at 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
