...a common observation, that few are mended by imprisonment, and that he, whose crimes have made confinement necessary, seldom makes any other use of his enlargement, than to do, with greater cunning, what he did before with less.
Samuel JohnsonKnowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
Samuel JohnsonLittle would be wanting to the happiness of life, if every man could conform to the right as soon as he was shown it.
Samuel JohnsonI will take no more physick, not even my opiates; for I have prayed that I may render up my soul to God unclouded.
Samuel JohnsonNo cause more frequently produces bashfulness than too high an opinion of our own importance. He that imagines an assembly filled with his merit, panting with expectation, and hushed with attention, easily terrifies himself with the dread of disappointing them, and strains his imagination in pursuit of something that may vindicate the veracity of fame, and show that his reputation was not gained by chance.
Samuel Johnson