James Boswell Quotes & Sayings

Quoting Samuel Johnson: Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves. — James Boswell

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

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

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

We often observe in lawyers, who as Quicquid agunt homines is the matter of law suits, are sometimes obliged to pick up a temporary knowledge of an art or science, of which they understood nothing till their brief was delivered, and appear to be much masters of it. — James Boswell

In every picture there should be shade as well as light. — James Boswell

A good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation. — James Boswell

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

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. — James Boswell

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

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

He who has provoked the lash of wit cannot complain that he smarts from it. — James Boswell

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

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. — James Boswell

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

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

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

I suppose no person ever enjoyed with more relish the infusion of this fragrant leaf than did Johnson. — James Boswell

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

Addison writes with the ease of a gentleman. His readers fancy that a wise and accomplished companion is talking to them; so that ... - MORE Addison writes with the ease of a gentleman. His readers fancy that a wise and accomplished companion is talking to them; so that he insinuates his sentiments and taste into their minds by an imperceptible influence. Johnson writes like a teacher. He dictates to his readers as if from an academical chair. They attend with awe and admiration; and his precepts are impressed upon them by his commanding eloquence. Addison's style, like a light wine, pleases everybody from the first. Johnson's, like a liquor of more body, seems too strong at first, but, by degrees, is highly relished. — James Boswell

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. — James Boswell

Friendship, "the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be continually renewed; and it is consolatory to think, that although we can seldom add what will equal the generous first growths of our youth, yet friendship becomes insensibly old in much less time than is commonly imagined, and not many years are required to make it mellow and pleasant. — James Boswell

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. — James Boswell

As all who come into the country must obey the King, so all who come into an university must be of the Church. — James Boswell

I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate. — James Boswell

After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, I refute it thus. — James Boswell

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

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

The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none. — James Boswell

Buffon, who, with all his theoretical ingenuity and extraordinary eloquence, I suspect had little actual information in the science on which he wrote so admirably For instance, he tells us that the cow sheds her horns every two years; a most palpable error ... It is wonderful that Buffon who lived so much in the country at his noble seat should have fallen into such a blunder I suppose he has confounded the cow with the deer. — James Boswell

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

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

Every man should keep minutes of whatever he reads. Every circumstance of his studies should be recorded; what books he has consulted; how much of them he has read; at what times; how often the same authors; and what opinions he formed of them, at different periods of his life. Such an account would much illustrate the history of his mind. — James Boswell

Boswell, when he speaks of his Life of Johnson, calls it my magnum opus, but it may more properly be called his opera, for it is truly a composition founded on a true story, in which there is a hero with a number of subordinate characters, and an alternate succession of recitative and airs of various tone and effect, all however in delightful animation. — James Boswell

Why should not the knowledge, the skill, the expertness, the assiduity, and the spirited hazards of trade and commerce, when crowned with success, be entitled to give those flattering distinctions by which mankind are so universally captivated? Such are the specious, but false arguments for a proposition which always will find numerous advocates, in a nation where men are every day starting up from obscurity to wealth. To refute them is needless. The general sense of mankind cries out, with irresistible force, Un gentilhomme est toujours gentilhomme. — James Boswell

Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others. Sometimes it does. But the danger is, that while a man grows better pleased with himself, he may be growing less pleasing to others. Wine gives a man nothing. It neither gives him knowledge nor wit; it only animates a man, and enables him to bring out what a dread of the company has presented. — James Boswell

He made two or three peculiar observations; as when shewn the botanical garden, 'Is not EVERY garden a botanical garden? — James Boswell

My curiosity to see the melancholy spectacle of the executions was so strong that I could not resist it, although I was sensible that I would suffer much from it ... I got upon a scaffold near the fatal tree so that I could clearly see all the dismal scene ... I was most terribly shocked, and thrown into a very deep melancholy. — James Boswell

There is indeed a strange prejudice against Quotation. — James Boswell

Yet he found an excuse for drunkenness which few men but he could have found. Stockdale (Memoirs, ii. 189) says that he heard Mrs. Williams 'wonder what pleasure men can take in making beasts of themselves. "I wonder, Madam," replied Johnson, "that you have not penetration enough to see the strong inducement to this excess; for he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."' [1278] — James Boswell

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. — James Boswell

One must be strict even in little things. — James Boswell

But we find that war is followed by no general good whatever. The power, the glory, or the wealth of a very few may be enlarged. But the people in general, upon both sides, after all the sufferings are passed, pursue their ordinary occupations, with no difference from their former state. The evils therefore of war ... are a mere loss without any advantage ... — James Boswell

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

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

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

I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding. — James Boswell

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

Mr. Langton one day asked him [Samuel Johnson] how he had acquired so accurate a knowledge of Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceeded by no man of his time; he said, 'My master whipt me very well. Without that, Sir, I should have done nothing.' He told Mr. Langton, that while Hunter was flogging his boys unmercifully, he used to say, 'And this I do to save you from the gallows.' Johnson, upon all occasions, expressed his approbation of enforcing instruction by means of the rod. 'I would rather (said he) have the rod to be the general terrour to all, to make them learn, than tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters. The rod produces an effect which terminates in itself. A child is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task, and there's an end on't; whereas, by exciting emulation and comparisons of superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make brothers and sisters hate each other. — James Boswell

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

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. — James Boswell

My definition of man is a cooking animal. The beasts have memory, judgement, and the faculties and passions of our minds in a certain degree; but no beast is a cook. — James Boswell

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

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

His OFELLUS in the Art of Living in London, I have heard him relate, was an Irish painter, whom he knew at Birmingham, and who had practiced his own precepts of economy for several years in the British capital. He assured Johnson, who, I suppose, was then meditating to try his fortune in London, but was apprehensive of the expence, 'that thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for cloaths and linen. He said a man might live in a garret at eighteen-pence a week; few people would inquire where he lodged; and if they did, it was easy to say, "Sir, I am to be found at such a place." By spending three-pence in a coffee-house, he might be for some hours every day in very good company; he might dine for six-pence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without supper. On clean-shirt day he went abroad, and paid visits. — James Boswell

The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man. — James Boswell

After I went to bed I had a curious fancy as to dreams. In sleep the doors of the mind are shut, and thoughts come jumping in at the windows. They tumble headlong, and therefore are so disorderly and strange. Sometimes they are stout and light on their feet, and then they are rational dreams. — James Boswell

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

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

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

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

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. — James Boswell

To abolish a status, which in all ages God has sanctioned, and man has continued, would not only be robbery to an innumerable class of our fellow-subjects; but it would be extreme cruelty to the African Savages, a portion of whom it saves from massacre, or intolerable bondage in their own country, and introduces into a much happier state of life; especially now when their passage to the West-Indies and their treatment there is humanely regulated. — James Boswell

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

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

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

Everything about his character and manners was forcible and violent; there never was any moderation; many a day did he fast, many a year did he refrain from wine; but when he did eat, it was voraciously; when he did drink wine, it was copiously. He could practise abstinence, but not temperance. — James Boswell

Writing a book I have found to be like building a house. A man forms a plan, and collects materials. — James Boswell

Boswell: But, Sir is it not somewhat singular that you should happen to have Cocker's Arithmetic about you on your journey? Dr. Johnson: Why, Sir if you are to have but one book with you upon a journey, let it be a book of science. When you read through a book of entertainment, you know it, and it can do no more for you; but a book of science is inexhaustible. — James Boswell

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

Almighty GOD, the giver of wisdom, without whose help resolutions are vain, without whose blessing study is ineffectual; enable me, if it be thy will, to attain such knowledge as may qualify me to direct the doubtful, and instruct the ignorant; to prevent wrongs and terminate contentions; and grant that I may use that knowledge which I shall attain, to thy glory and my own salvation, for JESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen. — James Boswell

At night I strolled into the Park and took the first whore I met, whom I without many words copulated with free from danger, being safely sheathed. She was ugly and lean and her breath smelt of spirits. I never asked her name. When it was done, she slunk off. I had a low opinion of this practice and resolved to do it no more. — James Boswell

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. — James Boswell

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

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. — James Boswell

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

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

We must take our friends as they are. — James Boswell

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. — James Boswell

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. — James Boswell