Fear is implanted in us as a preservative from evil but its duty, like that of other passions, is not to overbear… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A minute analysis of life at once destroys that splendor which dazzles the imagination. Whatsoever grandeur can display, or luxury enjoy, is… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No cause more frequently produces bashfulness than too high an opinion of our own importance. He that imagines an assembly filled with… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that condemns himself to compose on a stated day will often bring to his task attention dissipated, a memory embarrassed, an… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When the eye or the imagination is struck with an uncommon work, the next transition of an active mind is to the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Among many parallels which men of imagination have drawn between the natural and moral state of the world, it has been observed… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Were it not for imagination, a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as a dutchess — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
They whose activity of imagination is often shifting the scenes of expectation, are frequently subject to such sallies of caprice as make… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that compares what he has done with what he has left undone, will feel the effect which must always follow the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The present time is seldom able to fill desire or imagination with immediate enjoyment, and we are forced to supply its deficiencies… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The student who would build his knowledge on solid foundations, and proceed by just degrees to the pinnacles of truth, is directed… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
...a man estimable for his learning, amiable for his life, and venerable for his piety. Arbuthnot was a man of great comprehension,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Scarcely any degree of judgment is sufficient to restrain the imagination from magnifying that on which it is long detained — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is generally allowed, that no man ever found the happiness of possession proportionate to that expectation which incited his desire, and… — 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
The imaginations excited by the view of an unknown and untravelled wilderness are not such as arise in the artificial solitude of… — 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
Great abilites are not requisitefor an Historian; for in historical composition, all thegreatest powers of the humanmind are quiescent. He has facts… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Of the present state, whatever it be, we feel and are forced to confess the misery; yet when the same state is… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Time is, of all modes of existence, most obsequious to the imagination. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Works of imagination excel by their allurement and delight; by their power of attracting and detaining the attention. That book is good… — 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
