Some read for style, and some for argument: one has little care about the sentiment, he observes only how it is expressed;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The purpose of a writer is to be read, and the criticism which would destroy the power of pleasing must be blown… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Life is surely given us for higher purposes than to gather what our ancestors have wisely thrown away, and to learn what… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression; we must always purpose to do more or better… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Words too familiar, or too remote, defeat the purpose of a poet. From those sounds which we hear on small or on… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is no temper more unpropitious to interest than desultory application and unlimited inquiry, by which the desires are held in a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A writer who obtains his full purpose loses himself in his own lustre. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that compares what he has done with what he has left undone, will feel the effect which must always follow the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
In proportion as our cares are employed upon the future, they are abstracted from the present, from the only time which we… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
As peace is the end of war, so to be idle is the ultimate purpose of the busy. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
These papers of the day have uses more adequate to the purposes of common life than more pompous and durable volumes. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is such a difference between the pursuits of men in great cities that one part of the inhabitants lives to little… — 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
