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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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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
Poor
Shocked
Help
Spoke
Boswell
Father
Disgusting
Harshly
Helping
Idiot
Disgust
Night
John
Idiots
Made
Son
Answered
Brother
Sons
Went
Spokes

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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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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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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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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.
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The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.
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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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That favorite subject, Myself.
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In every picture there should be shade as well as light.
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But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?
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Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.
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Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.
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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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What an insignificant life is this which I am now leading!
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We must take our friends as they are.
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I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate.
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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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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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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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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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When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.
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