Do not hope wholly to reason away your troubles; do not feed them with attention, and they will die imperceptibly away. Fix… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There are people whom one should like very well to drop, but would not wish to be dropped by. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A man had rather have a hundred lies told of him than one truth which he does not wish should be told. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The gratification which affluence of wealth, extent of power, and eminence of reputation confer, must be always, by their own nature, confined… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
That we must all die, we always knew; I wish I had remembered it sooner. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
We are unreasonably desirous to separate the goods of life from those evils which Providence has connected with them, and to catch… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If an author be supposed to involve his thoughts in voluntary obscurity, and to obstruct, by unnecessary difficulties, a mind eager in… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Few men survey themselves with so much severity as not to admit prejudices in their own favour, which an artful flatterer may… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that wishes to see his country robbed of its rights cannot be a patriot. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When a friend is carried to his grave, we at once find excuses for every weakness, and palliation of every fault. We… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is more reasonable to wish for reputation while it may be enjoyed, as Anacreon calls upon his companions to give him… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
I wish there were some cure, like the lover's leap, for all heads of which some single idea has obtained an unreasonable… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Pity is not natural to man. Children are always cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The whole world is put in motion by the wish for riches and the dread of poverty. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Fate wings, with every wish, the afflictive dart, Each gift of nature, and each grace of art. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
They who have already enjoyed the crowds and noise of the great city, know their desire to return is little more than… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
He that embarks on the voyage of life will always wish to advance rather by the impulse of the wind than the… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The main of life is composed of small incidents and petty occurrences; of wishes for objects not remote, and grief for disappointments… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
There is such a difference between the pursuits of men in great cities that one part of the inhabitants lives to little… — 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
