Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense. He whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity by the name of a critic.

Quote by Samuel Johnson

Topics: Samuel Johnson Quotes

Power is not sufficient evidence of truth

Power is not sufficient evidence of truth

The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered, but a general effect...

The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered, but a general effect...

The longer we live the more we think and the higher the value we put...

The longer we live the more we think and the higher the value we put...

The accidental prescriptions of authority, when time has procured them veneration, are often confounded with...

The accidental prescriptions of authority, when time has procured them veneration, are often confounded with...

Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them...

Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them...

A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything.

A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything.

No man was ever great by imitation.

No man was ever great by imitation.

Every reader should remember the diffidence of Socrates, and repair by his candour the injuries...

Every reader should remember the diffidence of Socrates, and repair by his candour the injuries...

That man (Lord Lyttelton) sat down to write a book, to tell the world what...

That man (Lord Lyttelton) sat down to write a book, to tell the world what...

He that hopes to look back hereafter with satisfaction upon past years must learn to...

He that hopes to look back hereafter with satisfaction upon past years must learn to...

Justice is indispensably and universally necessary, and what is necessary must always be limited, uniform,...

Justice is indispensably and universally necessary, and what is necessary must always be limited, uniform,...

Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole...

Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole...

The inevitable consequence of poverty is dependence

The inevitable consequence of poverty is dependence

Do not hope wholly to reason away your troubles; do not feed them with attention,...

Do not hope wholly to reason away your troubles; do not feed them with attention,...

A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority.

A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority.

Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.

Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.

To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man...

To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man...

Marriage, Sir, is much more necessary to a man than to a woman; for he...

Marriage, Sir, is much more necessary to a man than to a woman; for he...

No man should marry until he has studied anatomy and dissected at least one woman.

No man should marry until he has studied anatomy and dissected at least one woman.

Enable every woman who can work to take her place on the labour front, under...

Enable every woman who can work to take her place on the labour front, under...