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No, Sir, claret is the liquor for boys port for men: but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy. In the first place brandy will do soonest for a man what drinking can do for him.

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
First
Aspire
Must
Drinking
Men
Wine
Soonest
Hero
Claret
Drink
Aspires
Boys
Brandy
Place
Port
Firsts
Liquor

More quotes by 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.
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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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In an orchard there should be enough to eat, enough to lay up, enough to be stolen, and enough to rot on the ground.
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It is wonderful that five thousand years have now elapsed since the creation of the world, and still it is undecided whether or not there has ever been an instance of the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is against it but all belief is for it.
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My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.
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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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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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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What a curious creature is man with what a variety of powers and faculties is he endued yet how easily is he disturbed and put out of order.
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The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.
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When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.
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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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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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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.
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But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?
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What an insignificant life is this which I am now leading!
James Boswell
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Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.
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We must take our friends as they are.
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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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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