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A woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinter legs. It is not done well but you are surprised to see it done at all.

James Boswell

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James Boswell
Age: 54 †
Born: 1740
Born: October 18
Died: 1795
Died: May 19
Biographer
Diarist
Lawyer
Writer
Edinburgh
Scotland
James Boswell I
James
I Boswell
Dog
Walking
Woman
Wells
Well
Sarcastic
Done
Preaching
Like
Surprised
Legs

More quotes by James Boswell

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As all who come into the country must obey the King, so all who come into an university must be of the Church.
James Boswell
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Dr Johnson said, the inscription should have been in Latin, as every thing intended to be universal and permanent, should be.
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I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically.
James Boswell
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If a man who is born to a fortune cannot make himself easier and freer than those who are not, he gains nothing.
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Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.
James Boswell
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The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.
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My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.
James Boswell
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If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.
James Boswell
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I have seen many a bear led by a man: but I never before saw a man led by a bear.
James Boswell
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But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?
James Boswell
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Those who would extirpate evil from the world know little of human nature. As well might punch be palatable without souring as existence agreeable without care.
James Boswell
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After I went to bed I had a curious fancy as to dreams. In sleep the doors of the mind are shut, and thoughts come jumping in at the windows. They tumble headlong, and therefore are so disorderly and strange. Sometimes they are stout and light on their feet, and then they are rational dreams.
James Boswell
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My curiosity to see the melancholy spectacle of the executions was so strong that I could not resist it, although I was sensible that I would suffer much from it.... I got upon a scaffold near the fatal tree so that I could clearly see all the dismal scene.... I was most terribly shocked, and thrown into a very deep melancholy.
James Boswell
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I am sensible that my keenness of temper, and a vanity to be distinguished for the day, make me too often splash in life.... I amresolved to restrain myself and attend more to decorum.
James Boswell
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When we know exactly all a man's views and how he comes to speak and act so and so, we lose any respect for him, though we may love and admire him.
James Boswell
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For my own part I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed: and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.
James Boswell
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When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.
James Boswell
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[A]s a lady adjusts her dress before a mirror, a man adjusts his character by looking at his journal.
James Boswell
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The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.
James Boswell
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My wife, who does not like journalizing, said it was leaving myself embowelled to posterity--a good strong figure. But I think itis rather leaving myself embalmed. It is certainly preserving myself.
James Boswell