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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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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
Speak
Familiarity
Comes
Admire
May
Exactly
Men
Lose
Love
Respect
Views
Loses
Though

More quotes by James Boswell

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When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.
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The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.
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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 fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically.
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Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.
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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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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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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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Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.
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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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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 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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I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate.
James Boswell
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A Sceptick therefore, who because he finds that Truths are not universally received, doubts of their existence, is just as foolish as a man who should try large shoes upon little feet, and little shoes upon large feet, and finding that they did not fit.
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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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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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 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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But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?
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.
James Boswell