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 mind is refrigerated by interruption; the thoughts are diverted from the principal subject; the reader is weary, he suspects not why; and at last throws away the book, which he has too diligently studied. – Samuel Johnson
The mind is never satisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from the present moment, and losing itself in schemes of future felicity… The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope. – Samuel Johnson
The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new. – Samuel Johnson