Quote

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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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
World
Little
Palatable
Wells
Agreeable
Might
Punch
Human
Existence
Humans
Evil
Without
Nature
Well
Care
Would
Littles
Extirpate

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Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.
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Quotation is more universal and more ancient than one would perhaps believe.
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My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.
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In every picture there should be shade as well as light.
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The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.
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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.
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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.
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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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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.
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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?
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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.
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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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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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[A]s a lady adjusts her dress before a mirror, a man adjusts his character by looking at his journal.
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We must take our friends as they are.
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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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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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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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That favorite subject, Myself.
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