Authors
Topics
Lists
Pictures
Resources
More about James Boswell
James Boswell Quotes
70 Sourced Quotes
Source
Report...
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
Source
Report...
I jumped up on the benches, roared out, "Damn you, you rascals!", hissed and was in the greatest rage. [...] I hated the English; I wished from my soul that the Union was broke and that we might give them another battle of Bannockburn.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
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
Source
Report...
When I called upon Dr. Johnson next morning, I found him highly satisfied with his colloquial prowess the preceding evening. "Well, (said he,) we had good talk." BOSWELL: "Yes, Sir, you tossed and gored several persons."
James Boswell
Source
Report...
In every place, where there is any thing worthy of observation, there should be a short printed directory for strangers.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
Friendship, the wine of life, should, like a well stocked cellar, be thus continually renewed.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
Boswell is pleasant and gay,
For frolic by nature designed;
He heedlessly rattles away
When company is to his mind.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
What can he mean by coming among us? He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
You are a philosopher, Dr. Johnson. I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don't know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
His mind resembled the vast amphitheatre, the Coliseum at Rome. In the centre stood his judgment, which like a mighty gladiator, combated those apprehensions that, like the wild beasts of the arena, were all around in cells, ready to be let out upon him.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
I saw what seemed a mere shrimp mount upon the table, but, as I listened, he grew and grew until the shrimp became a whale.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
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.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
Such groundless fears will arise in the mind, before it has resumed its vigour after sleep!
James Boswell
Source
Report...
I think there is a blossom about me of something more distinguished than the generality of mankind.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
In every picture there should be shade as well as light.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
I suppose no person ever enjoyed with more relish the infusion of this fragrant leaf than did Johnson.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
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.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
A man, indeed, is not genteel when he gets drunk; but most vices may be committed very genteelly: a man may debauch his friend's wife genteelly: he may cheat at cards genteelly.
James Boswell
Source
Report...
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
1
2
3
Quote of the day
Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ.
Martin Luther
James Boswell
Creative Commons
Born:
October 29, 1740
Died:
May 19, 1795
(aged 54)
Bio:
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck, was a Scottish biographer and diarist, born in Edinburgh.
Known for:
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
London Journal (1763)
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)
An Account of Corsica (1768)
Boswell, Laird of Auchinleck, 1778-1782
Most used words:
man
johnson
mind
sir
wine
genteelly
company
head
friendship
degree
drop
wit
James Boswell on Wikipedia
James Boswell works on Gutenberg Project
James Boswell works on Wikisource
Suggest an edit or a new quote
James Boswell Quotes
James Boswell Short Quotes
Quotes about James Boswell
Scottish Diarist Quotes
Diarist Quotes
18th-century Diarist Quotes
Related People
Samuel Johnson
English Lexicographer
Samuel Pepys
English Politician
Edmund Burke
Irish Statesman
Family
Margaret Boswell
Spouse
Featured Authors
Lists
Predictions that didn't happen
If it's on the Internet it must be true
Remarkable Last Words (or Near-Last Words)
Picture Quotes
Confucius
Philip James Bailey
Eleanor Roosevelt
Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Popular Topics
life
love
nature
time
god
power
human
mind
work
art
heart
thought
men
day
×
Lib Quotes