Falsehoods of convenience or vanity, falsehoods from which no evil immediately visible ensues, except the general degradation of human testimony, are very… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is certain that success naturally confirms in us a favourable opinion of our own abilities. Scarce any man is willing to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I have often thought that there has rarely passed a life of which a judicious and faithful narrative would not be useful;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it.... There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is very strange, and very melancholy, that the paucity of human pleasures should persuade us ever to call hunting one of… — 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
Memory is like all other human powers, with which no man can be satisfied who measures them by what he can conceive,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Of those that spin out trifles and die without a memorial, many flatter themselves with high opinions of their own importance, and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every human being whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge. — 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
