Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The man who is asked by an author what he thinks of his work is put to the torture and is not… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Such is the state of every age, every sex, and every condition: all have their cares, either from nature or from folly;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If one was to think constantly of death, the business of life would stand still — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The habit of looking on the bright side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a year. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The longer we live the more we think and the higher the value we put on friendship and tenderness towards parents and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I love the acquaintance of young people; because, in the first place, I do not like to think myself growing old. In… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When I find that so much of my life has stolen unprofitably away, and that I can descry by retrospection scarcely a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To me - the choice of life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself, and don't think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
As a madman is apt to think himself grown suddenly great, so he that grows suddenly great is apt to borrow a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is no being so poor and so contemptible, who does not think there is somebody still poorer, and still more contemptible. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that thinks he can afford to be negligent is not far from being poor. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Most men think indistinctly, and therefore cannot speak with exactness . . . — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
How gloomy would be the mansions of the dead to him who did not know that he should never die: that what… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Read over your compositions and whenever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Those who attempt nothing themselves think every thing easily performed, and consider the unsuccessful always as criminal. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Very few live by choice. Every man is placed in his present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, and with… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
You think I love flattery (says Dr. Johnson), and so I do; but a little too much always disgusts me: that fellow… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Books, says Lord Bacon, can never teach us the use of books; the student must learn by commerce with mankind to reduce… — 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
