James Boswell Quotes

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.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.

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.

When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.

I, who have no sisters or brothers, look with some degree of innocent envy on those who may be said to be born to friends.

Quotation is more universal and more ancient than one would perhaps believe.

The pleasure of gratifying whim is very great. It is known only by those who are whimsical.

Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.

It is not every man who can be exquisitely miserable, any more than exquisitely happy.

A page of my journal is like a cake of portable soup. A little may be diffused into a considerable portion.

In an orchard there should be enough to eat, enough to lay up, enough to be stolen, and enough to rot on the ground.

The connection between authors, printers, and booksellers must be kept up.

I have seen many a bear led by a man: but I never before saw a man led by a bear.

I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically.

If a man who is born to a fortune cannot make himself easier and freer than those who are not, he gains nothing.

A companion loves some agreeable qualities which a man may possess, but a friend loves the man himself.

We had some port, and drank damnation to the play and eternal remorse to the author.

If venereal delight and the power of propagating the species were permitted only to the virtuous, it would make the world very good.

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.

I suppose no person ever enjoyed with more relish the infusion of that fragrant leaf than Johnson.

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.

O charitable philosopher, I beg you to help me. My mind is weak but my soul is strong. Kindle that soul, and the sacred fire shall never be extinguished.

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.

But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?

If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.

In every picture there should be shade as well as light.

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.

That favorite subject, Myself.

All censure of a man's self is oblique praise.

One must be strict even in little things.

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.

But the question is, whether the animals who endure such sufferings of various kinds for the service and entertainment of man, would accept existence upon the terms on which they have it.

Nay, Sir, it was not the WINE that made your head ache, but the SENSE that I put into it' 'What, Sir! will sense make the head ache?' 'Yes, Sir, (with a smile,) when it is not used to it.

In every place, where there is any thing worthy of observation, there should be a short printed directory for strangers.

I think there is a blossom about me of something more distinguished than the generality of mankind.

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.

There is indeed a strange prejudice against Quotation.

We must take our friends as they are.

[A]s a lady adjusts her dress before a mirror, a man adjusts his character by looking at his journal.

What an insignificant life is this which I am now leading!

Influence must ever be in proportion to property; and it is right it should.

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

I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate.

My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.

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.

The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.

Dr Johnson said, the inscription should have been in Latin, as every thing intended to be universal and permanent, should be.

My wife, who does not like journalizing, said it was leaving myself embowelled to posterity--a good strong figure. But I think itis rather leaving myself embalmed. It is certainly preserving myself.

Friendship, "the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be continually renewed.