Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent.
Samuel JohnsonSome desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy.
Samuel JohnsonAn Italian philosopher said that "time was his estate"; an estate indeed which will produce nothing without cultivation, but will always abundantly repay the labors of industry, and generally satisfy the most extensive desires, if no part of it be suffered to lie in waste by negligence, to be overrun with noxious plants, or laid out for show rather than for use.
Samuel Johnson