I remember a passage in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: "I do not love a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Read over your compositions and whenever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To embarrass justice by multiplicity of laws, or to hazard it by confidence in judges, seem to be the opposite rocks on… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The traveler that resolutely follows a rough and winding path will sooner reach the end of his journey than he that is… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Enlarge my life with multitude of days, In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays; Hides from himself his state, and shuns… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A transition from an author's book to his conversation is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant… — 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
He that embarks on the voyage of life will always wish to advance rather by the impulse of the wind than the… — 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
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
