Samuel Johnson

Language is the only instrument of science, and words are but the
signs of ideas.

Language is the only instrument of science, and words are but the
signs of ideas.

Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

Let them call it mischief;
Then it is past and prosper'd, 'twill be virtue.

Let them call it mischief;
Then it is past and prosper'd, 'twill be virtue.

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 lustre of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by read more

The lustre of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue.