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
Of him that hopes to be forgiven it is indispensably required that he forgive. It is, therefore, superfluous to urge any other… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Solitude is the surest nurse of all prurient passions, and a girl in the hurry of preparation, or tumult of gaiety, has… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Disease generally begins that equality which death completes; the distinctions which set one man so much above another are very little perceived… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Complaints are vain; we will try to. do better another time. To-morrow and to-morrow. A few designs and a few failures, and… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Many causes may vitiate a writer's judgement of his own works. On that which has cost him much labour he sets a… — 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
No wonder, Sir, that he is vain; a man who is perpetually flattered in every mode that can be conceived. So many… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The real satisfaction which praise can afford, is when what is repeated aloud agrees with the whispers of conscience, by showing us… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Quack: A boastful pretender to arts which he does not understand. A vain boastful pretender to physick; An artful, tricking practitioner in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Long customs are not easily broken; he that attempts to change the course of his own life very often labors in vain;… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Works of imagination excel by their allurement and delight; by their power of attracting and detaining the attention. That book is good… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Consultation and compliance can conduce little to the perfection of any literary performance; for whoever is so doubtful of his own abilities… — 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
