Quotes from Samuel Johnson

the fountain of content must spring up in the mind: and that he who has so little knowledge of human nature, as to seek happiness by changing any thing but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove .

ÆGILOPS  (Æ'GILOPS)   n.s.[Gr. signifying goat-eyed, the goat being subject to this ailment.] A tumour or swelling in the great corner of the eye, by the root of the nose, either with or without an inflammation: also a plant so called, for its supposed virtues

It is the fate of those who toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect of good;

AMBIGU  (A'MBIGU)   n.s.[French.]An entertainment, consisting not of regular courses, but of a medley of dishes set on together. When straiten'd in your time, and servants few,You'd richly then compose an ambigu;Where first and second course, and your desert,All in our single table have their part.King'sArt of Cookery.

Johnson, Collins, Fielding, and Thomson, were certainly four of the most distinguished persons that England produced during the eighteenth century. It is well known that they were all four arrested for debt.

Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?BibleProv.xxvii. 4.

ANATRON  (A'NATRON)   n.s.The scum which swims upon the molten glass in the furnace, which, when taken off, melts in the air, and then coagulates into common salt. It is likewise that salt which gathers upon the walls of vaults.

See the hell of having a false woman! My bed shall be abused, my coffers ransacked, my reputation gnawn at; and I shall not only receive this villainous wrong, but stand under the adoption of abominable terms, and by him that does me the wrong.Shakesp.Merry Wives of Windsor.2. The

Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny.BibleMatt.xx. 13.5. To

I will venture to say, that in no writings whatever can be found more bark and steel for the mind, if I may use the expression; more that can brace and invigorate every manly and noble sentiment. No. 32 on patience, even under extreme misery, is wonderfully lofty, and as much above the rant of stoicism, as the Sun of Revelation is brighter than the twilight of Pagan philosophy.

ACCIPIENT  (ACCI'PIENT)   n.s.[accipiens, Lat.] A receiver, perhaps sometimes used for recipient.Dict.

Life is a pill which none of us can bear to swallow without gilding.