If a madman were to come into this room with a stick in his hand, no doubt we should pity the state… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Books that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The mere power of saving what is already in our hands must be of easy acquisition to every mind; and as the… — 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
The life of a conscientious clergyman is not easy. I have always considered a clergyman as the father of a larger family… — 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
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
No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Most minds are the slaves of external circumstances, and conform to any hand that undertakes to mould them. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Prosperity's right hand is industry and her left hand is frugality. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that floats lazily down the stream, in pursuit of something borne along by the same current, will find himself indeed moved… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To see helpless infancy stretching out her hands, and pouring out her cries in testimony of dependence, without any powers to alarm… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent.… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
As the mind must govern the hands, so in every society the man of intelligence must direct the man of labor. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The prosperity of a people is proportionate to the number of hands and minds usefully employed. To the community, sedition is a… — 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
Waste cannot be accurately told, though we are sensible how destructive it is. Economy, on the one hand, by which a certain… — 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
