The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope. – Samuel Johnson
Leisure and curiosity might soon make great advances in useful knowledge, were they not diverted by minute emulation and laborious trifles. – Samuel Johnson
There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern. – Samuel Johnson
I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world. – Samuel Johnson
The simplicity of winter has a deep moral. The return of Nature, after such a career of splendor and prodigality, to habits so simple and austere, is not lost either upon the head or the heart. It is the philosopher coming back from the banquet and the wine to a cup of water and a crust of bread. – John Burroughs, “The Snow-Walkers,” 1866