Samuel Johnson

A certain amount of distrust is wholesome, but not so much of
others as of ourselves; neither vanity not read more

A certain amount of distrust is wholesome, but not so much of
others as of ourselves; neither vanity not conceit can exist in
the same atmosphere with it.

Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being
drowned.

Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being
drowned.

Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304 Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784 It is by affliction chiefly read more

Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304 Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784 It is by affliction chiefly that the heart of man is purified, and that the thoughts are fixed on a better state. Prosperity has power to intoxicate the imagination, to fix the mind upon the present scene, to produce confidence and elation, and to make him who enjoys affluence and honors forget the hand by which they were bestowed. It is seldom that we are otherwise than by affliction awakened to a sense of our imbecility, or taught to know how little all our acquisitions can conduce to safety or quiet, and how justly we may inscribe to the superintendence of a higher power those blessings which in the wantonness of success we considered as the attainments of our policy and courage.

The longer we live the more we think and the higher the value we put on friendship and tenderness towards read more

The longer we live the more we think and the higher the value we put on friendship and tenderness towards parents and friends.

Anecdotes are the gleaming toys of history. The history of mankind is little else than a narrative of designs which read more

Anecdotes are the gleaming toys of history. The history of mankind is little else than a narrative of designs which have failed and hopes that have been disappointed.