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The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.

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
Tempts
Smug
Sloth
Laziness
Scent
Men

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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.
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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.
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If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.
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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.
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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.
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[A]s a lady adjusts her dress before a mirror, a man adjusts his character by looking at his journal.
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I argued that the chastity of women was of much more consequence than that of men, as the property and rights of families depend upon it.
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My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.
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What an insignificant life is this which I am now leading!
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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.
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In every picture there should be shade as well as light.
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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.
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Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.
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Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.
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That favorite subject, Myself.
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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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We must take our friends as they are.
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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.
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But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?
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When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.
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