James Boswell Quotes
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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A book is never a masterpiece: it becomes one. Genius is the talent of a dead man.
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The British Museum was our first real museum, the property of the public rather than the monarch or the church.
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Yeah... I was a singer as a kid. I had a lot of stage fright, and what's happened with 'Idol,' it has got me past so much of that.
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A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it.
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Israel has a fantastic film industry, and many times we are known for our political films or films that have to do with the army. I love the fact that we can show that there are films coming out of Israel that are just for fun.
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The decision that has to be made was whether it was material, whether he knew he was lying under oath, whether he did it willfully. I think that's required of any prosecutor who is charged with an investigation of this.
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My dad was very fun and very adventurous, and from a formative age I learned to value men who would do things on a whim.
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I was physically abused and I retaliated.
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I love to go to casinos with my wife. I play poker, and she's an old-fashioned slot queen. She even has a visor.
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I want to, at the end of the day, be able to say, 'I am a runner.'
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If longevity is the best index to measure a company, a basic requirement is the ability of the corporation to generate new and new leaders.
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We've had Audrey Hepburn, we've had Twiggy, we've had Veruschka, we've had Kate Moss. I'm trying to figure out why I am to blame for skinniness.
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The only show my mother could afford to take me to when I was growing up was 'Cats', for my birthday.
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I need to start honing in on projects that I want to devote my time to and not put my energies into the unattainable ones.
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Some movies to me are like vampires – they suck all of the energy out of me and I don't like that. I like to give the audience energy if I can.
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I've been the best player on every team that I played on, so if I can't be the poster child of your team, then what else is it? It's got to be a black-white issue. Every white player I know who's the best player on their team is the poster child of that team.
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Give me a child and I'll shape him into anything.
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In our family, as far as we are concerned, we were born and what happened before that is myth.
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I had really good English teachers in elementary through high school. Not only were we required to read a lot - which is the best training for writing - we were drilled on grammar every day, every night. I hated the drill part, but I don't dangle my participles too often.
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My father told me 'Name your price in the beginning. If it ever gets more expensive than the price you name, get out of there.'
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Brothers, Fathers and Sisters - all of us in the Missionaries of Charity are doing the same. All of us have been created by God to love and to be loved. We are involved in this work. When you do that, there is joy, unity and love.
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There was no air; only the dead, still night fired by the dog days of August. Not a breath. I had to suck in the same air I exhaled, cupping it in my hands before it escaped. I felt it, in and out, less each time…until it was so thin it slipped through my fingers forever. I mean, forever.
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When I was filming, I imagined that Legolas was a meditative character who was very thoughtful and had a certain amount of depth to him. I started working on trying to find this focus that Legolas has, which wasn't really like me.
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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?
