Some claim a place in the list of patriots, by an acrimonious and unremitting opposition to the court. This mark is by… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that resigns his peace to little casualties, and suffers the course of his life to be interrupted for fortuitous inadvertencies or… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No man reads a book of science from pure inclination. The books that we do read with pleasure are light compositions, which… — 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
Pity is not natural to man. Children are always cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In civilized society external advantages make us more respected. A man with a good coat upon his back meets with a better… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Nothing is more common than to find men, whose works are now totally neglected, mentioned with praises by their contemporaries as the… — 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
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
None but those who have learned the art of subjecting their senses as well as reason to hypothetical systems can be persuaded… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No wise man will go to live in the country, unless he has something to do which can be better done in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Before dinner men meet with great inequality of understanding; and those who are conscious of their inferiority have the modesty not to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
That distrust which intrudes so often on your mind is a mode of melancholy, which, if it be the business of a… — 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
We found in the course of our journey the convenience of having disencumbered ourselves, by laying aside whatever we could spare; for… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
As the faculty of writing has chiefly been a masculine endowment, the reproach of making the world miserable has always been thrown… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In such a government as ours no man is appointed to an office because he is the fittest for it--nor hardly in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No man can perform so little as not to have reason to congratulate himself on his merits, when he beholds the multitude… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
So willing is every man to flatter himself, that the difference between approving laws, and obeying them, is frequently forgotten; he that… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every man naturally persuades himself that he can keep his resolutions, nor is he convinced of his imbecility but by length of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In questions of law or of fact conscience is very often confounded with opinion. No man's conscience can tell him the rights… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction. A man is pleased that his wife is dressed… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Censure is willingly indulged, because it always implies some superiority: men please themselves with imagining that they have made a deeper search,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The faults of a man loved or honoured sometimes steal secretly and imperceptibly upon the wise and virtuous, but by injudicious fondness… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Since every man is obliged to promote happiness and virtue, he should be careful not to mislead unwary minds, by appearing to… — 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
No man is without some quality, by the due application of which he might deserve well of the world; and whoever he… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
None of the projects or designs which exercise the mind of man are equally subject to obstructions and disappointments with the pursuit… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A man should be careful never to tell tales of himself to his own disadvantage. People may be amused at the time,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The commodiousness of money is indeed great; but there are some advantages which money cannot buy, and which therefore no wise man… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No man is defeated without some resentment which will be continued with obstinacy while he believes himself in the right, and asserted… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is a certain degree of temptation which will overcome any virtue. Now, in so far as you approach temptation to a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is, indeed, at home that every man must be known by those who would make a just estimate either of his… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree. We… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No weakness of the human mind has more frequently incurred animadversion, than the negligence with which men overlook their own faults, however… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is astonishing that any man can forbear enquiring seriously whether there is a God; whether God is just; whether this life… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
How many may a man of diffusive conversation count among his acquaintances, whose lives have been signalized by numberless escapes; who never… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The great end of prudence is to give cheerfulness to those hours which splendour cannot gild, and acclamation cannot exhilarate; those soft… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
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
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
It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
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
The basis of all excellence is truth: he that professes love ought to feel its power. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
“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
“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
Nobody has the right to put another under such a difficulty that he must either hurt the person by telling the truth or hurt… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own self-esteem — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share
