In such a government as ours no man is appointed to an office because he is the fittest for it--nor hardly in any other government--because there are so many connections and dependencies to be studied.
Samuel JohnsonThe great end of prudence is to give cheerfulness to those hours which splendor cannot gild, and acclamation cannot exhilarate.
Samuel JohnsonYour manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.
Samuel JohnsonWhatever advantage we snatch beyond a certain portion allotted us by at nature, is like money spent before it is due, which, at the time of regular payment, will be missed and regretted.
Samuel JohnsonMany a man is mad in certain instances, and goes through life without having it perceived. For example, a madness has seized a person of supposing himself obliged literally to pray continually; had the madness turned the opposite way, and the person thought it a crime ever to pray, it might not improbably have continued unobserved.
Samuel Johnson