Fear is implanted in us as a preservative from evil but its duty, like that of other passions, is not to overbear… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
See nations slowly wise, and meanly just, to buried merit raise the tardy bust. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
We ought not to raise expectations which it is not in our power to satisfy.-It is more pleasing to see smoke brightening… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
We are unreasonably desirous to separate the goods of life from those evils which Providence has connected with them, and to catch… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity. It becomes cheap as it becomes vulgar, and will no… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Yet reason frowns in war's unequal game, Where wasted nations raise a single name; And mortgag'd states their grandsire's wreaths regret, From… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The hapless wit has his labors always to begin, the call for novelty is never satisfied, and one jest only raises expectation… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I have thought of a pulley to raise me gradually; but that would give me pain, as it would counteract my natural… — 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
