Poetry cannot be translated; and, therefore, it is the poets that preserve the languages; for we would not be at the trouble… — 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
Friendship, like love, is destroyed by long absence, though it may be increased by short intermissions. What we have missed long enough… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
What we read with inclination makes a much stronger impression. If we read without inclination, half the mind is employed in fixing… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that can swim needs not despair to fly; to swim is to fly in a grosser fluid, and to fly is… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Forgetfulness is necessary to remembrance. Ideas are retained by renovation of that impression which time is always wearing away,and which new images… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Little would be wanting to the happiness of life, if every man could conform to the right as soon as he was… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Contempt is a kind of gangrene which, if it seizes one part of a character, corrupts all the rest by degrees. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If we consider the manner in which those who assume the office of directing the conduct of others execute their undertaking, it… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If a man is in doubt whether it would be better for him to expose himself to martyrdom or not, he should… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
1. Turn all care out of your head as soon as you mount the chaise. 2. Do not think about frugality: your… — 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
