That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem.
Samuel JohnsonI would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.
Samuel JohnsonA continual feast of commendation is only to be obtained by merit or by wealth: many are therefore obliged to content themselves with single morsels, and recompense the infrequency of their enjoyment by excess and riot, whenever fortune sets the banquet before them.
Samuel JohnsonAmong other pleasing errors of young minds is the opinion of their own importance. He that has not yet remarked, how little attention his contemporaries can spare from themselves, conceives all eyes turned upon himself, and imagines everyone that approaches him to be an enemy or a follower, an admirer or a spy.
Samuel Johnson