James Boswell Quotes

Quotes about:

• 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

  Writing, Yield, Joy

  James Boswell (1956). “London Journal, 1762-1763, as First Published in 1950 from the Original Manuscript”

  50 Copy quote

• 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.

  James Boswell

  Men, Order, Psychological

  James Boswell, Mark Harris (1981). “The heart of Boswell: six journals in one volume”, McGraw-Hill Companies

  6 Copy quote

• The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.

  James Boswell

  Men, New Friends, He Man

  6 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Life, Success, Character

  'Boswell's London Journal' (ed. F. A. Pottle, 1950) 21 November 1762

  20 Copy quote

• 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

  Years, World, Spirit

  James Boswell, John Wilson Croker, John Wright (1839). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Including a Journal of His Tour to the Hebrides”, p.59

  12 Copy quote

• That favorite subject, Myself.

  James Boswell

  Favorite Subject, Subjects

  6 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Melancholy, Silent, Unhappiness

  James Boswell, Mark Harris (1981). “The heart of Boswell: six journals in one volume”, McGraw-Hill Companies

  10 Copy quote

• My readers, who may at first be apt to consider Quotation as downright pedantry, will be surprised when I assure them, that next to the simple imitation of sounds and gestures, Quotation is the most natural and most frequent habitude of human nature. For, Quotation must not be confined to passages adduced out of authors. He who cites the opinion, or remark, or saying of another, whether it has been written or spoken, is certainly one who quotes; and this we shall find to be universally practiced.

  James Boswell

  Simple, Next, Firsts

  7 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Men, Generosity, Prodigals

  James Boswell (1956). “London Journal, 1762-1763, as First Published in 1950 from the Original Manuscript”

  6 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Connections, Printer, Booksellers

  James Boswell (1956). “London Journal, 1762-1763, as First Published in 1950 from the Original Manuscript”

  8 Copy quote

• Drinking is in reality an occupation which employs a considerable portion of the time of many people; and to conduct it in the most rational and agreeable manner is one of the great arts of living.

  James Boswell

  Art, Drinking, Reality

  James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1786). “Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales”, p.178

  4 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Friendship, Wine, Should

  James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Edmond Malone (1824). “The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., comprehending an account of his studies, and numerous works, in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons; and various original pieces of his composition, never before published; the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished”, p.261

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Freedom, Men, Liberty

  James Boswell, Mark Harris (1981). “The heart of Boswell: six journals in one volume”, McGraw-Hill Companies

  8 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Whimsical, Pleasure, Whim

  James Boswell (1956). “London Journal, 1762-1763, as First Published in 1950 from the Original Manuscript”

  12 Copy quote

• 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

  Tree, Fruit, Enough

  James Boswell (1807). “The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: comprehending an account of his studies and numerous works, in chronological order; a series of his epistolatory correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons; and various original pieces of his composition, never before published: the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great-Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished”, p.309

  9 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Believe, Ancient, Universal

  12 Copy quote

• I am now to offer some thoughts upon that sameness or familiarity which we frequently find between passages in different authors without quotation. This may be one of three things either what is called Plagiarism, or Imitation, or Coincidence.

  James Boswell

  Different, Three, May

  17 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Men, One Day, Library

  James Boswell, Marlies K. Danziger (2008). “James Boswell: the journal of his German and Swiss travels, 1764”, Yale Univ Pr

  7 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Delight, World, Very Good

  James Boswell, Mark Harris (1981). “The heart of Boswell: six journals in one volume”, McGraw-Hill Companies

  7 Copy quote

• In comparing these two writers, he [Samuel Johnson] used this expression: "that there was as great a difference between them as between a man who knew how a watch was made, and a man who could tell the hour by looking on the dial-plate." This was a short and a figurative statement of his distinction between drawing characters of nature and characters only of manners, but I cannot help being of opinion, that the neat watches of Fielding are as well constructed as the large clocks of Richardson, and that his dial plates are brighter.

  James Boswell

  Character, Men, Drawing

  12 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Light, Shade, Should

  James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Edmond Malone (1824). “The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., comprehending an account of his studies, and numerous works, in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons; and various original pieces of his composition, never before published; the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished”, p.23

  7 Copy quote

• People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids?
  A man cannot know himself better than by attending to the feelings of his heart and to his external actions, from which he may with tolerable certainty judge "what manner of person he is." I have therefore determined to keep a daily journal.

  James Boswell

  Heart, Kids, Men

  14 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Writing, May, Fancy

  James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1786). “Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales”, p.43

  8 Copy quote

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

  James Boswell

  Men, Saws, Bears

  James Boswell (1832). “The life of Samuel Johnson: including A journal of a tour to the Hebrides”, p.472

  8 Copy quote

• 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.

  James Boswell

  Drinking, Hero, Wine

  James Boswell (2012). “James Boswell's Life of Johnson: Manuscript Edition: |”, p.186, Edinburgh University Press

  52 Copy quote

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