That man is never happy for the present is so true, that all his relief from unhappiness is only forgetting himself for… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Sorrow is a kind of rust of the soul, which every new idea contributes in its passage to scour away. It is… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that outlives a wife whom he has long loved, sees himself disjoined from the only mind that has the same hopes,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is little peace or comfort in life if we are always anxious as to future events. He that worries himself with… — 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
Year chases year, decay pursues decay, Still drops some joy from with'ring life away; New forms arise, and diff'rent views engage — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In writing, as in life, faults are endured without disgust when they are associated with transcendent merit, and may be sometimes recommended… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
People may be taken in once, who imagine that an author is greater in private life than other men. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The drama's laws the drama's patrons give. For we that live to please must please to live. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Those who have any intention of deviating from the beaten roads of life, and acquiring a reputation superior to names hourly swept… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Sleep is a state in which a great part of every life is passed. No animal has yet been discovered, whose existence… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own dispositions will waste… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every period of life is obliged to borrow its happiness from time to come. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“Those who attain to any excellence commonly spend life in some single pursuit, for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.” — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Patience and submission are very carefully to be distinguished from cowardice and indolence. We are not to repine, but we may lawfully… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Nobody can write the life of a man but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“It has been observed in all ages that the advantages of nature or of fortune have contributed very little to the promotion… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I do not wonder that, where the monastick life is permitted, every order finds votaries, and every monastery inhabitants. Men will submit… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Lawyers know life practically. A bookish man should always have them to converse with. — 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
