Whatever advantage we snatch beyond a certain portion allotted us by at nature, is like money spent before it is due, which,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Where necessity ends, desire and curiosity begin; and no sooner are we supplied with everything nature can demand than we sit down… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In the condition of men, it frequently happens that grief and anxiety lie hid under the golden robes of prosperity; and the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
[The poet] must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Novelty is indeed necessary to preserve eagerness and alacrity; but art and nature have stores inexhaustible by human intellects, and every moment… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The luster of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A man finds in the productions of nature an inexhaustible stock of material on which he can employ himself, without any temptations… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The whole power of cunning is privative; to say nothing, and to do nothing , is the utmost of its reach. Yet… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The uniform necessities of human nature produce in a great measure uniformity of life, and for part of the day make one… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and art are ransacked for illustrations, comparisons, and allusions; their learning instructs,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“That this is a practice contrary to the rules of criticism will be readily allowed; but there is always an appeal open… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is justly considered as the greatest excellency of art to imitate nature; but it is necessary to distinguish those parts of… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“Shakespeare's plays are not in the rigorous and critical sense either tragedies or comedies, but compositions of a distinct kind; exhibiting the… — 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
When a poet mentions the spring, we know that the zephyrs are about to whisper, that the groves are to recover their… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is no observation more frequently made by such as employ themselves in surveying the conduct of mankind, than that marriage, though… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“And yet it fills me with wonder, that, in almost all countries, the most ancient poets are considered as the best: whether… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The art of the writer, like that of the player, is attained by slow degrees. The power of distinguishing and discriminating comick… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The maxim of Cleobulus, "Mediocrity is best," has been long considered a universal principle, extending through the whole compass of life and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is the great privilege of poverty to be happy unenvied, to be healthful without physic, and secure without a guard; to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The labor of rising from the ground will be great, ... but as we mount higher, the earth's attraction, and the body's… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Many of our miseries are merely comparative: we are often made unhappy, not by the presence of any real evil, but by… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In discussing these exceptions from the course of nature, the first question is, whether the fact be justly stated. That which is… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is reason to suspect, that the distinctions of mankind have more show than value, when it is found that all agree… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No man is by nature the property of another. The defendant is, therefore, by nature free. — 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
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 Image
That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own self-esteem — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
![“[The poet] must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations, as a being superior to time and place.” quote by Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/668/samuel-johnson-50_future-generation_the-poet-must-write-as-the-interpreter-o_3180253.jpg)
