James Boswell Quotes
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The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.
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Then, all censure of a man's self is oblique praise.
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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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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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We must take our friends as they are.
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In every picture there should be shade as well as light.
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Johnson is dead. Let us go to the next best - there is nobody; no man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson.
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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.
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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.
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I make it a kind of pious rule to go to every funeral to which I am invited, both as I wish to pay a proper respect to the dead, unless their characters have been bad, and as I would wish to have the funeral of my own near relations or of myself well attended.
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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?
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But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?
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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.
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Writing a book I have found to be like building a house. A man forms a plan, and collects materials.
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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.
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The pleasure of gratifying whim is very great. It is known only by those who are whimsical.
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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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Friendship, "the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be continually renewed.
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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.
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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.
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For my entire career, I wanted to be a director. When I was in the theater, it was very difficult to get directing jobs, and I fell into the acting by default. I got in the habit of accepting whatever came my way. Not things that I disagreed with, though. It's not like I had aspirations - well, I did have aspirations to play Hamlet, which I ended up doing.
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Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.
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I can't say I enjoy all TV ... I'm enjoying 'Six Feet' because I think it's beautifully written, and wonderfully acted and beautifully produced. I enjoy the odd piece of television.
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A Sceptick therefore, who because he finds that Truths are not universally received, doubts of their existence, is just as foolish as a man who should try large shoes upon little feet, and little shoes upon large feet, and finding that they did not fit.