2,116 Quotes by Samuel Johnson

To circumscribe poetry by a definition will only chew the narrowness of the definer.

A good wife is like the ivy which beautifies the building to which it clings, twining tendrils more lovingly as time converts the ancient edifice into ruins.

How guilt once harbour'd in the conscious breast, Intimidates the brave, degrades the great.

Poor Sober! I have often teased him with reproof, and lie has often promised reformation: for no man is so much open to conviction as the idler, but there is none on whom it operates so little.

The natural flights of the human mind are not pleasure to pleasure but from hope to hope.

To improve the golden moment of opportunity and catch the good that is within our reach is the great art of life.

Present opportunities are neglected and attainable good is slighted, by minds busied in extensive ranges and intent upon future advantages.

All theory is against the freedom of the will; all experience for it.

Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed.