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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
Walking
Woman
Wells
Well
Sarcastic
Done
Preaching
Like
Surprised
Legs
Dog

More quotes by James Boswell

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Have a sense of piety ever on your mind, and be ever mindful that this is subject to no change, but will last you as long as life and support you in death. Elevate your soul by prayer and by contemplation without mystical enthusiasm.
James Boswell
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My father had declared a predilection for heirs general, that is, males and females indiscriminately.... I, on the other hand, had a zealous partiality for heirs male, however remote.
James Boswell
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In an orchard there should be enough to eat, enough to lay up, enough to be stolen, and enough to rot on the ground.
James Boswell
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We must take our friends as they are.
James Boswell
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My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.
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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Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.
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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A Sceptick therefore, who because he finds that Truths are not universally received, doubts of their existence, is just as foolish as a man who should try large shoes upon little feet, and little shoes upon large feet, and finding that they did not fit.
James Boswell
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Dr. Johnson ... sometimes employed himself in chymistry, sometimes in watering and pruning a vine, and sometimes in small experiments, at which those who may smile, should recollect that there are moments which admit of being soothed only by trifles.
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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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.
James Boswell
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I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate.
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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The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.
James Boswell
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I am so fond of tea that I could write a whole dissertation on its virtues. It comforts and enlivens without the risks attendant on spirituous liquors. Gentle herb! Let the florid grape yield to thee. Thy soft influence is a more safe inspirer of social joy.
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.
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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If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.
James Boswell