It ought to be the first endeavour of a writer to distinguish nature from custom; or that which is established because it… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
By forbearing to do what may innocently be done, we may add hourly new vigor to resolution. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every man speaks and writes with intent to be understood; and it can seldom happen but he that understands himself, might convey… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There may be other reasons for a man's not speaking in publick than want of resolution: he may have nothing to say. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Peevishness may be considered the canker of life, that destroys its vigor and checks its improvement; that creeps on with hourly depredations,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No degree of knowledge attainable by man is able to set him above the want of hourly assistance, or to extinguish the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A country gentleman should bring his lady to visit London as soon as he can, that they may have agreeable topicks for… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Friendship, like love, is destroyed by long absence, though it may be increased by short intermissions. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them at too great… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
False taste is always busy to mislead those that are entering upon the regions of learning; and the traveller, uncertain of his… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Get together a hundred or two men, however sensible they may be, and you are very likely to have a mob. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every other enjoyment malice may destroy; every other panegyric envy may withhold; but no human power can deprive the boaster of his… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A merchant may, perhaps, be a man of an enlarged mind, but there is nothing in trade connected with an enlarged mind. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Piety practiced in solitude, like the flower that blooms in the desert, may give its fragrance to the winds of heaven, and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If a man begins to read in the middle of a book, and feels an inclination to go on, let him not… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Providence has fixed the limits of human enjoyment by immovable boundaries, and has set different gratifications at such a distance from each… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
From all our observations we may collect with certainty, that misery is the lot of man, but cannot discover in what particular… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To have the management of the mind is a great art, and it may be attained in a considerable degree by experience… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The certainty that life cannot be long, and the probability that it will be much shorter than nature allows, ought to awaken… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Most vices may be committed very genteelly: a man may debauch his friend's wife genteelly: he may cheat at cards genteelly — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The mischief of flattery is, not that it persuades any man that he is what he is not, but that it suppresses… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Bashfulness may sometimes exclude pleasure, but seldom opens any avenue to sorrow or remorse. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is certain that success naturally confirms in us a favourable opinion of our own abilities. Scarce any man is willing to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Diffidence may check resolution and obstruct performance, but compensates its embarrassments by more important advantages; it conciliates the proud, and softens 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
