Samuel Johnson ( 10 of 197 )
Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of read more
Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy.
He who praises everybody, praises nobody.
He who praises everybody, praises nobody.
All wonder is the effect of novelty on ignorance.
All wonder is the effect of novelty on ignorance.
Commemoration of James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda, 1885 Continuing a short series on prayer: read more
Commemoration of James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda, 1885 Continuing a short series on prayer: Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend Christopher Smart showed the disturbance of his mind, by falling upon his knees, and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all, than to pray as Smart did, I am afraid there are so many who do not pray, that their understanding is not called in question... I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I'd as lief pray with Kit Smart as any.
Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304 Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784 A student may easily exhaust read more
Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304 Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784 A student may easily exhaust his life in comparing divines and moralists without any practical regard to morals and religion; he may be learning not to live but to reason... while the chief use of his volumes is unthought of, his mind is unaffected, and his life is unreformed.
Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we
cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas: he that reads books read more
Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we
cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas: he that reads books of
science, though without any desire fixed of improvement, will
grow more knowing; he that entertains himself with moral or
religious treatises, will imperceptibly advance in goodness; the
ideas which are often offered to the mind, will at last find a
lucky moment when it is disposed to receive them.
For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill.
For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill.
The first years of man must make provision for the last.
The first years of man must make provision for the last.
Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off.
Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off.
Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.
Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.
