To talk in public, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business of… — 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 wise man applauds he who he thinks most virtuous; the rest of the world applauds the wealthy. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I hope I shall never be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian. — 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
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
You need a good editor because every writer thinks he can write a War and Peace, but by the time he gets… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
No degree of knowledge attainable by man is able to set him above the want of hourly assistance, or to extinguish the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is wonderful to think how men of very large estates not only spend their yearly income, but are often actually in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
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
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
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
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 greatest human virtue bears no proportion to human vanity. We always think ourselves better than we are, and are generally desirous… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Difference of thoughts will produce difference of language. He that thinks with more extent than another, will want words of a larger… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The rules that I shall propose concerning secrecy, and from which I think it not safe to deviate without long and exact… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
We took tea, by Boswell's desire; and I eat one bun, I think, that I might not be seen to fast ostentatiously.… — 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
