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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
Universal
Thing
Every
Inscription
Inscriptions
Johnson
Intended
Latin
Permanent

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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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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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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[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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When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.
James Boswell
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The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.
James Boswell
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If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.
James Boswell
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My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.
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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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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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 find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate.
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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In every picture there should be shade as well as light.
James Boswell
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That favorite subject, Myself.
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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Quotation is more universal and more ancient than one would perhaps believe.
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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The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.
James Boswell
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He had no settled plan of life, nor looked forward at all, but merely lived from day to day. Yet he read a great deal in a desultory manner, without any scheme of study, as chance threw books in his way, and inclination directed him through them.
James Boswell