Samuel Johnson Quotes About Eyes

• The eye of the mind, like that of the body, can only extend its view to new objects, by losing sight of those which are now before it.

  Samuel Johnson

  Eye, Sight, Views

  Samuel Johnson (1756). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.214

• Of all kinds of credulity, the most obstinate is that of party-spirit; of men, who, being numbered, they know not why, in any party, resign the use of their own eyes and ears, and resolve to believe nothing that does not favor those whom they profess to follow.

  Samuel Johnson

  Party, Believe, Eye

• Smoking is a shocking thing - blowing smoke out of our mouths into other people's mouths, eyes, and noses, and having the same thing done to us.

  Samuel Johnson

  Eye, People, Smoking

  Samuel Johnson (2010). “Journey to the Hebrides: A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland & The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides”, p.198, Canongate Books

• In life's last scene what prodigies surprise,
  Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise!
  From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage flow,
  And Swift expires a driveller and a show.

  Samuel Johnson

  Life, Wise, Eye

  Samuel Johnson (1820). “The Poems of Dr. Samuel Johnson. To which is Prefixed, a Life of the Author”, p.39

• Vanity is so frequently the apparent motive of advice that we, for the most part, summon our powers to oppose it without very accurate inquiry whether it is right. It is sufficient that another is growing great in his own eyes at our expense, and assumes authority over us without our permission; for many would contentedly suffer the consequences of their own mistakes, rather than the insolence of him who triumphs as their deliverer.

  Samuel Johnson

  Mistake, Eye, Vanity

  Samuel Johnson (1824). “The works of Samuel Johnson”, p.99

• Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last; and perhaps always predominates in proportion to the strength of the contemplative faculties. He who easily comprehends all that is before him, and soon exhausts any single subject, is always eager for new inquiries; and in proportion as the intellectual eye takes in a wider prospect, it must be gratified with variety, by more rapid flights and bolder excursions.

  Samuel Johnson

  Passion, Eye, Intellectual

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1825). “The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: with Murphy's essay”, p.135

• Bias and impartiality is in the eye of the beholder.

  Samuel Johnson

  Eye, Perspective, Beholder

• It is justly considered as the greatest excellency of art to imitate nature; but it is necessary to distinguish those parts of nature which are most proper for imitation: greater care is still required in representing life, which is so often discoloured by passion or deformed by wickedness. If the world be promiscuously described, I cannot see of what use it can be to read the account; or why it may not be as safe to turn the eye immediately upon mankind, as upon a mirror which shows all that presents itself without discrimination.

  Samuel Johnson

  Art, Eye, Passion

  Samuel Johnson (1968). “Essays from the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler”, p.12, Yale University Press

• Works of imagination excel by their allurement and delight; by their power of attracting and detaining the attention. That book is good in vain which the reader throws away. He only is the master who keeps the mind in pleasing captivity; whose pages are perused with eagerness, and in hope of new pleasure are perused again; and whose conclusion is perceived with an eye of sorrow, such as the traveller casts upon departing day.

  Samuel Johnson

  Book, Writing, Eye

  Samuel Johnson (1854). “Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works”, p.375

• Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, And pause a while from learning to be wise. There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,- Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.

  Samuel Johnson

  Wise, Learning, Eye

  'The Vanity of Human Wishes' (1749) l. 157

• Men are most powerfully affected by those evils which themselves feel, or which appear before their own eyes.

  Samuel Johnson

  Eye, Men, Evil

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1857). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius”, p.124

• Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, And pause awhile from letters, to be wise.

  Samuel Johnson

  Wise, Art, Philosophy

  'The Vanity of Human Wishes' (1749) l. 157

• How can children credit the assertions of parents, which their own eyes show them to be false? Few parents act in such a manner as much to enforce their maxims by the credit of their lives

  Samuel Johnson

  Children, Eye, Parent

  Samuel Johnson (1846). “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia: A Tale”, p.85

• Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.

  Samuel Johnson

  Distance, Eye, Perspective

  Samuel Johnson (1815). “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia: A Tale”, p.190

• It is however, reasonable, to have perfection in our eye; that we may always advance towards it, though we know it never can be reached.

  Samuel Johnson

  Eye, Perfection, May

  "The Works of Samuel Johnson, L. L. D.: In Twelve Volumes". Volume III,

• Every man has frequent grievances which only the solicitude of friendship will discover and remedy, and which would remain for ever unheeded in the mighty heap of human calamity, were it only surveyed by the eye of general benevolence equally attentive to every misery.

  Samuel Johnson

  Eye, Men, Humanity

  Samuel Johnson (1784). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes..”, p.267

• Reason will by degrees submit to absurdity, as the eye is in time accommodated to darkness.

  Samuel Johnson

  Eye, Darkness, Degrees

• Among other pleasing errors of young minds is the opinion of their own importance. He that has not yet remarked, how little attention his contemporaries can spare from themselves, conceives all eyes turned upon himself, and imagines everyone that approaches him to be an enemy or a follower, an admirer or a spy.

  Samuel Johnson

  Eye, Errors, Mind

  Samuel Johnson (1968). “Essays from the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler”, p.20, Yale University Press

• When the eye or the imagination is struck with an uncommon work, the next transition of an active mind is to the means by which it was performed

  Samuel Johnson

  Mean, Eye, Imagination

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1825). “The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: with Murphy's essay”, p.229

• Don't tell me of deception; a lie is a lie, whether it be a lie to the eye or a lie to the ear.

  Samuel Johnson

  Lying, Eye, Deception

  Samuel Johnson (1836). “Johnsoniana; or supplement to Boswell; being Anecdotes and sayings of Dr. Johnson, etc”, p.222

• Where no man thinks himself under any obligation to submit to another, and, instead of co-operating in one great scheme, every one hastens through by-paths to private profit, no great change can suddenly be made; nor is superior knowledge of much effect, where every man resolves to use his own eyes and his own judgment, and every one applauds his own dexterity and diligence, in proportion as he becomes rich sooner than his neighbour.

  Samuel Johnson

  Eye, Men, Thinking

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1837). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: Lives of the poets”, p.399

• Spring is the season of gaiety, and winter of terror; in spring the heart of tranquility dances to the melody of the groves, and the eye of benevolence sparkles at the sight of happiness and plenty: in winter, compassion melts at universal calamity, and the tear of softness starts at the wailing of hunger and the cries of the creation in distress

  Samuel Johnson

  Spring, Heart, Eye

• The student who would build his knowledge on solid foundations, and proceed by just degrees to the pinnacles of truth, is directed by the great philosopher of France to begin by doubting of his own existence. In like manner, whoever would complete any arduous and intricate enterprise, should, as soon as his imagination can cool after the first blaze of hope, place before his own eyes every possible embarrassment that may retard or defeat him. He should first question the probability of success, and then endeavour to remove the objections that he has raised.

  Samuel Johnson

  Eye, Imagination, Doubt

  Samuel Johnson (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”, p.77

• Turn on the prudent
  Ant, thy heedful eyes,
  Observe her labours,
  Sluggard, and be wise.

  Samuel Johnson

  Wise, Eye, Laziness

  "The poems of Samuel Johnson".

• How many may a man of diffusive conversation count among his acquaintances, whose lives have been signalized by numberless escapes; who never cross the river but in a storm, or take a journey into the country without more adventures than befel the knights-errant of ancient times in pathless forests or enchanted castles! How many must he know, to whom portents and prodigies are of daily occurrence; and for whom nature is hourly working wonders invisible to every other eye, only to supply them with subjects of conversation?

  Samuel Johnson

  Country, Adventure, Eye

  Samuel Johnson (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.”, p.23

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