The fiction of happiness is propagated by every tongue and confirmed by every look till at last all profess the joy which… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Man is a transitory being, and his designs must partake of the imperfections of their author. To confer duration is not always… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I love the acquaintance of young people; because, in the first place, I do not like to think myself growing old. In… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Nothing has so exposed men of learning to contempt and ridicule as their ignorance of things which are known to all but… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In life's last scene what prodigies surprise, Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise! From Marlborough's eyes the streams of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A voyage to the moon, however romantick and absurd the scheme may now appear, since the properties of air have been better… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last; and perhaps always predominates in proportion to the strength… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If the guardian or the mother Tell the woes of willful waste, Scorn their counsel and their pother, You can hang or… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Many causes may vitiate a writer's judgement of his own works. On that which has cost him much labour he sets a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Attainment is followed by neglect, possession by disgust, and the malicious remark of the Greek epigrammatist on marriage may be applied to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To get a name can happen but to few. A name, even in the most commercial nation, is one of the few… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There are three distinct kind of judges upon all new authors or productions; the first are those who know no rules, but… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To revenge reasonable incredulity by refusing evidence, is a degree of insolence with which the world is not yet acquainted; and stubborn… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
We never do anything consciously for the last time without sadness of heart. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage, Till pitying Nature signs the last release, And bids afflicted worth retire to peace. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The mind is refrigerated by interruption; the thoughts are diverted from the principle subject; the reader is weary, he suspects not why;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Surely, it is much easier to respect a man who has always had respect, than to respect a man who we know… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Yet reason frowns in war's unequal game, Where wasted nations raise a single name; And mortgag'd states their grandsire's wreaths regret, From… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To grieve for evils is often wrong; but it is much more wrong to grieve without them. All sorrow that lasts longer… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The truth is that the spectators are always in their senses, and know, from the first act to the last, that 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
