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

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The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.
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My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.
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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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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.
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I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically.
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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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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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We must take our friends as they are.
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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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The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.
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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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If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.
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In every picture there should be shade as well as light.
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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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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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That favorite subject, Myself.
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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 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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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