Men, however distinguished by external accidents or intrinsick qualities, have all the same wants, the same pains, and, as far as the senses are consulted, the same pleasures.
Samuel JohnsonWe have always pretensions to fame which, in our own hearts, we know to be disputable.
Samuel JohnsonNothing is more idle than to inquire after happiness, which nature has kindly placed within our reach.
Samuel JohnsonA gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married immediately after his wife died; it was the triumph of hope over experience.
Samuel JohnsonThere is something in obstinacy which differs from every other passion. Whenever it fails, it never recovers, but either breaks like iron, or crumbles sulkily away, like a fractured arch. Most other passions have their periods of fatigue and rest, their sufferings and their cure; but obstinacy has no resource, and the first wound is mortal.
Samuel Johnson