A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Such is the constitution of man that labour may be styled its own reward; nor will any external incitements be requisite, if… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It may be no less dangerous to claim, on certain occasions, too little than too much. There is something captivating in spirit… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Let us take a patriot, where we can meet him; and, that we may not flatter ourselves by false appearances, distinguish those… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every man may be observed to have a certain strain of lamentation, some peculiar theme of complaint on which he dwells in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Truth has no gradations; nothing which admits of increase can be so much what it is, as truth is truth. There may… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
That all who are happy are equally happy is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal; and he may be properly charged with evil who refused to learn how he might… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
You never find people laboring to convince you that you may live very happily upon a plentiful income. — 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
A student may easily exhaust his life in comparing divines and moralists without any practical regard to morals and religion; he may… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Exactness is first obtained, and afterwards elegance. But diction, merely vocal, is always in its childhood. As no man leaves his eloquence… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The belief of immortality is impressed upon all men, and all men act under an impression of it, however they may talk,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
We may take Fancy for a companion, but must follow Reason as our guide. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
That the happiness of man may still remain imperfect, as wants in this place are easily supplied, new wants likewise are easily… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I wish you would add an index rerum, that when the reader recollects any incident he may easily find it. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Among the many inconsistencies which folly produces or infirmity suffers in the human mind, there has often been observed a manifest and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Other things may be seized by might, or purchased with money, but knowledge is to be gained only by study, and study… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Flattery pleases very generally. In the first place, the flatterer may think what he says to be true; but, in the second… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In most ages many countries have had part of their inhabitants in a state of slavery; yet it may be doubted whether… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Friendship may well deserve the sacrifice of pleasure, though not of conscience. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
As not every instance of similitude can be considered as a proof of imitation, so not every imitation ought to be stigmatised… — 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
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
