Quotes from Samuel Johnson

To do nothing is in everyone's power.

The purpose of a writer is to be read, and the criticism which would destroy the power of pleasing must be blown aside

But, perhaps, the flatterer is not often detected; for an honest mind is not apt to suspect, and no one exerts the power of discernment with much vigour when selflove favors the deceit.

To do something is in every man's power.

The violence of war admits no distinction; the lance, that is lifted at guilt and power, will sometimes fall on innocence and gentleness.

The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.

All power of fancy over reason is a degree of madness.

A thousand years may elapse before there shall appear another man with a power of versification equal to that of Pope.

Dogs have not the power of comparing. A dog will take a small piece of meat as readily as a large, when both are before him.

We ought not to raise expectations which it is not in our power to satisfy.-It is more pleasing to see smoke brightening into flame, than flame sinking into smoke.

Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order." - John V. Lindsay "No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it.

Memory is the primary and fundamental power, without which there could be no other intellectual operation.

He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dulness in others.

As the mind must govern the hands, so in every society the man of intelligence must direct the man of labor.

Whoever envies another confesses his superiority.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

When once the forms of civility are violated, there remains little hope of return to kindness or decency.

If in an actor there appears an utter vacancy of meaning, a frigid equality, a stupid languor, a torpid apathy, the greatest kindness that can be shown him is a speedy sentence of expulsion.

Beauty, without kindness, dies unenjoyed and undelighting.

It requires but little acquaintance with the heart to know that woman's first wish is to be handsome; and that, consequently, the readiest method of obtaining her kindness is to praise her beauty.

If we will have the kindness of others, we must endure their follies.

Always, Sir, set a high value on spontaneous kindness.

No man can have much kindness for him by whom he does not believe himself esteemed, and nothing so evidently proves esteem as imitation.

I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.