I do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When we see our enemies and friends gliding away before us, let us not forget that we are subject to the general… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that accepts protection, stipulates obedience. We have always protected the Americans; we may therefore subject them to government. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
None of the projects or designs which exercise the mind of man are equally subject to obstructions and disappointments with the pursuit… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Pendantry is the unseasonable ostentation of learning. It may be discovered either in the choice of a subject or in the manner… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
They whose activity of imagination is often shifting the scenes of expectation, are frequently subject to such sallies of caprice as make… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Those who are in the power of evil habits must conquer them as they can; and conquered they must be, or neither… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A simile, to be perfect, must both illustrate and ennoble the subject; must show it to the understanding in a clearer view,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last; and perhaps always predominates in proportion to the strength… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The king who makes war on his enemies tenderly distresses his subjects most cruelly. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The mind is refrigerated by interruption; the thoughts are diverted from the principle subject; the reader is weary, he suspects not why;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To fix the thoughts by writing, and subject them to frequent examinations and reviews, is the best method of enabling the mind… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Genius now and then produces a lucky trifle. We still read the Dove of Anacreon, and Sparrow of Catullus; and a writer… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Learn the leading precognita of all things-no need to turn over leaf by leaf, but grasp the trunk hard and you will… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Nothing detains the reader's attention more powerfully than deep involutions of distress, or sudden vicissitudes of fortune; and these might be abundantly… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
How many may a man of diffusive conversation count among his acquaintances, whose lives have been signalized by numberless escapes; who never… — 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
