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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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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
Johnson
Intended
Latin
Permanent
Universal
Thing
Every
Inscription
Inscriptions

More quotes by 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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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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Quotation is more universal and more ancient than one would perhaps believe.
James Boswell
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In every picture there should be shade as well as light.
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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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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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.
James Boswell
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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.
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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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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Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.
James Boswell
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I went to my father's at night. He spoke of poor John [Boswell's brother] with disgust. I was shocked and said, He's your son, and God made him. He answered very harshly, If my sons are idiots, can I help it?
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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The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.
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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What an insignificant life is this which I am now leading!
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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The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.
James Boswell
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My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.
James Boswell