Every reader should remember the diffidence of Socrates, and repair by his candour the injuries of time: he should impute the seeming… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
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
Books to judicious compilers, are useful; to particular arts and professions, they are absolutely necessary; to men of real science, they are… — 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
People seldom read a book which is given to them; and few are given. The way to spread a work is to… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
One of the amusements of idleness is reading without the fatigue of close attention; and the world therefore swarms with writers whose… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“It is strange that there should be so little reading in the world, and so much writing. People in general do not… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“People have now a-days, (said he,) got a strange opinion that every thing should be taught by lectures. Now, I cannot see… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Tradition is but a meteor, which, if it once falls, cannot be rekindled. Memory, once interrupted, is not to be recalled. But… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
People have now a-days got a strange opinion that every thing should be taught by lectures. Now, I cannot see that lectures… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I have always suspected that the reading is right, which requires many words to prove it wrong; and the emendation wrong, that… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Books are faithful repositories, which may be awhile neglected or forgotten; but when they are opened again, will again impart their instruction:… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Among those whose reputation is exhausted in a short time by its own luxuriance are the writers who take advantage of present… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If a man begins to read in the middle of a book, and feels an inclination to go on, let him not… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
What is twice read is commonly better remembered that what is transcribed. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
What we read with inclination makes a much stronger impression. If we read without inclination, half the mind is employed in fixing… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read. — 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
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
