No estimate is more in danger of erroneous calculations than those by which a man computes the force of his own genius.
Samuel JohnsonI fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically, except in narrative; grow weary of preparation, and connection, and illustration, and all those arts by which a big book is made.
Samuel JohnsonAn infallible characteristic of meanness is cruelty. Men who have practiced tortures on animals without pity, relating them without shame, how can they still hold their heads among human beings?
Samuel Johnson