A 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 JohnsonIt is not often that any man can have so much knowledge of another, as is necessary to make instruction useful.
Samuel JohnsonExcellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
Samuel JohnsonIn general those parents have the most reverence who most deserve it; for he that lives well cannot be despised.
Samuel JohnsonIn writing, as in life, faults are endured without disgust when they are associated with transcendent merit, and may be sometimes recommended to weak judgments by the lustre which they obtain from their union with excellence; but it is the business of those who presume to superintend the taste or morals of mankind to separate delusive combinations, and distinguish that which may be praised from that which can only be excused.
Samuel Johnson