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To neglect at any time preparation for death is to sleep on our post at a siege to omit it in old age is to sleep at an attack.

Samuel Johnson

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Samuel Johnson
Age: 75 †
Born: 1709
Born: September 18
Died: 1784
Died: December 13
Biographer
Bookseller
Essayist
Lexicographer
Linguist
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Poet
Politician
Teacher
Translator
Writer
Lichfield
Staffordshire
Dr Johnson
Dr. Johnson
Great Moralist
Preparation
Attack
Sleep
Age
Omit
Death
Siege
Time
Post
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Neglect

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A successful author is equally in danger of the diminution of his fame, whether he continues or ceases to write.
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Those who do not feel pain seldom think that it is felt.
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Being reproached for giving to an unworthy person, Aristotle said, I did not give it to the man, but to humanity.
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The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
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Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
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Hoc age ['do this'] is the great rule, whether you are serious or merry whether ... learning science or duty from a folio, or floating on the Thames. Intentions must be gathered from acts.
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Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation of his defense.
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To be flattered is grateful, even when we know that our praises are not believed by those who pronounce them for they prove, at least, our power, and show that our favour is valued, since it is purchased by the meanness of falsehood.
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He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.
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Labor's face is wrinkled with the wind, and swarthy with the sun.
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He that voluntarily continues in ignorance, is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces.
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Hope itself is a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain.
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Good-humor is a state between gayety and unconcern,--the act or emanation of a mind at leisure to regard the gratification of another.
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The truth is that the spectators are always in their senses, and know, from the first act to the last, that the stage is only a stage, and that the players are only players.
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He was dull in a new way, and that made many think him great.
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Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.
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An author places himself uncalled before the tribunal of criticism and solicits fame at the hazard of disgrace.
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To scatter praise or blame without regard to justice is to destroy the distinction of good and evil. Many have no other test of actions than general opinion and all are so far influenced by a sense of reputation that they are often restrained by fear of reproach, and excited by hope of honour, when other principles have lost their power.
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The mischief of flattery is, not that it persuades any man that he is what he is not, but that it suppresses the influence of honest ambition, by raising an opinion that honour may be gained without the toil of merit.
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Novelty is indeed necessary to preserve eagerness and alacrity but art and nature have stores inexhaustible by human intellects, and every moment produces something new to him who has quickened his faculties by diligent observation.
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