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That favorite subject, Myself.

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
Favorite
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Subjects

More quotes by James Boswell

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If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.
James Boswell
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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.
James Boswell
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In every picture there should be shade as well as light.
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Quotation is more universal and more ancient than one would perhaps believe.
James Boswell
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I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate.
James Boswell
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The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.
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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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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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Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.
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.
James Boswell
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When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.
James Boswell
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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.
James Boswell
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We must take our friends as they are.
James Boswell
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The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.
James Boswell
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My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.
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
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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.
James Boswell
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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.
James Boswell
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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.
James Boswell
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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.
James Boswell