There are occasions on which it is noble to dare to stand alone. To be pious among infidels, to be disinterested in… — 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
Prejudice is a great time-saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts. Prejudice not being founded on reason cannot… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Their origin is commonly unknown; for the practice often continues when the cause has ceased, and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A student may easily exhaust his life in comparing divines and moralists without any practical regard to morals and religion; he may… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
We may take Fancy for a companion, but must follow Reason as our guide. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Whatever is proposed, it is much easier to find reasons for rejecting than embracing. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Among the many inconsistencies which folly produces or infirmity suffers in the human mind, there has often been observed a manifest and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There may be other reasons for a man's not speaking in publick than want of resolution: he may have nothing to say. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Solitude is dangerous to reason, without being favorable to virtue. Remember that the solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probably superstitious, and possibly… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Do not hope wholly to reason away your troubles; do not feed them with attention, and they will die imperceptibly away. Fix… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Surely nothing is more reproachful to a being endowed with reason, than to resign its powers to the influence of the air,… — 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
Advice, as it always gives a temporary appearance of superiority, can never be very grateful, even when it is most necessary or… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Those who have any intention of deviating from the beaten roads of life, and acquiring a reputation superior to names hourly swept… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Reason will by degrees submit to absurdity, as the eye is in time accommodated to darkness. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It has long been observed, that an atheist has no just reason for endeavouring conversions; and yet none harass those minds which… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Some people wave their dogmatic thinking until their own reason is entangled. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Of many, imagined blessings it may be doubted whether he that wants or possesses them had more reason to be satisfied with… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Pity is not natural to man. Children are always cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The majority have no other reason for their opinions than that they are the fashion. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The accidental prescriptions of authority, when time has procured them veneration, are often confounded with the laws of nature, and those rules… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No man can perform so little as not to have reason to congratulate himself on his merits, when he beholds the multitude… — 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
