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Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.

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
Maintained
Devotion
Worship
Ignorance
Mother
Many
Infidels
Infidel

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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.
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But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?
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I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate.
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We must take our friends as they are.
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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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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 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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That favorite subject, Myself.
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The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.
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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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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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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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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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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.
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I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically.
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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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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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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.
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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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