Our aspirations are our possibilities.
SAMUEL JOHNSONOur aspirations are our possibilities.
SAMUEL JOHNSONYou can never be wise unless you love reading.
SAMUEL JOHNSONA decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.
SAMUEL JOHNSONIgnorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal; and he may be properly charged with evil who refused to learn how he might prevent it.
SAMUEL JOHNSONThere must always be a struggle between a father and son, while one aims at power and the other at independence.
SAMUEL JOHNSONA contempt of the monuments and the wisdom of the past, may be justly reckoned one of the reigning follies of these days, to which pride and idleness have equally contributed.
SAMUEL JOHNSONAll travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.
SAMUEL JOHNSONEvery man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments.
SAMUEL JOHNSONIf your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.
SAMUEL JOHNSONMen who stand in the highest ranks of society seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction and obtund remorse.
SAMUEL JOHNSONKindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.
SAMUEL JOHNSONNo government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it…. There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that will keep us safe under every form of government.
SAMUEL JOHNSONCourage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.
SAMUEL JOHNSONExert your talents, and distinguish yourself, and don’t think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire.
SAMUEL JOHNSONMen more frequently require to be reminded than informed.
SAMUEL JOHNSONWhen a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
SAMUEL JOHNSON