The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I am far from any intention to limit curiosity, or confine the labours of learning to arts of immediate and necessary use.… — 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
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
“My dear friend, clear your mind of cant [excessive thought]. You may talk as other people do: you may say to a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
History can be formed from permanent monuments and records; but lives can only be written from personal knowledge, which is growing every… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
So scanty is our present allowance of happiness that in many situations life could scarcely be supported if hope were not allowed… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
All unnecessary vows are folly, because they suppose a prescience of the future, which has not been given us. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that hopes to look back hereafter with satisfaction upon past years must learn to know the present value of single minutes,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Novelty is indeed necessary to preserve eagerness and alacrity; but art and nature have stores inexhaustible by human intellects, and every moment… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
As he that lives longest lives but a little while, every man may be certain that he has no time to waste.… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write.” — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
All discourse of which others cannot partake is not only an irksome usurpation of the time devoted to pleasure and entertainment, but,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It may be observed in general that the future is purchased by the present. It is not possible to secure distant or… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Man is a transitory being, and his designs must partake of the imperfections of their author. To confer duration is not always… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression; we must always purpose to do more or better… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Surely a long life must be somewhat tedious, since we are forced to call in so many trifling things to help rid… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A man should be careful never to tell tales of himself to his own disadvantage. People may be amused at the time,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically, except in narrative; grow weary of preparation, and connection, and illustration,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
As to precedents, to be sure they will increase in course of time; but the more precedents there are, the less occasion… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
One of the aged greatest miseries is that they cannot easily find a companion able to share the memories of the past. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The mind is never satisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from the present moment, and losing… — 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
