The present time is seldom able to fill desire or imagination with immediate enjoyment, and we are forced to supply its deficiencies by recollection or anticipation.

Quote by Samuel Johnson

Topics: Happiness Quotes, Past Quotes

The usual fortune of complaint is to excite contempt more than pity.

The usual fortune of complaint is to excite contempt more than pity.

Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily...

Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily...

One of the amusements of idleness is reading without the fatigue of close attention; and...

One of the amusements of idleness is reading without the fatigue of close attention; and...

Money confounds subordination

Money confounds subordination

Wine gives a man nothing... it only puts in motion what had been locked up...

Wine gives a man nothing... it only puts in motion what had been locked up...

I have ever since (his wife's death) seemed to myself broken off from mankind; a...

I have ever since (his wife's death) seemed to myself broken off from mankind; a...

In travelling, a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.

In travelling, a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure but from...

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure but from...

Language is the dress of thought; and as the noblest mien or most graceful action...

Language is the dress of thought; and as the noblest mien or most graceful action...

Friendship is not always the sequel of obligation

Friendship is not always the sequel of obligation

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how...

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how...

Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense....

Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense....

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes...

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes...

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.

To love one that is great, is almost to be great one's self.

To love one that is great, is almost to be great one's self.

Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to...

Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to...

How can children credit the assertions of parents, which their own eyes show them to...

How can children credit the assertions of parents, which their own eyes show them to...

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him...

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him...

Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his...

Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his...

It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy,...

It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy,...