James Boswell
Lawyer
1740-10-29
Quotes by James Boswell
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We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over. So in a series of acts of kindness there is, at last, one which makes the heart run over.
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We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over. So in a series of acts of kindness there is, at last, one which makes the heart run over.
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A page of my journal is like a cake of portable soup. A little may be diffused into a considerable portion.
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For my own part I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed: and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.
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He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.
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One must be strict even in little things.
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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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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.
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A companion loves some agreeable qualities which a man may possess, but a friend loves the man himself.
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If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.
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But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?
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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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When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarities.
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If venereal delight and the power of propagating the species were permitted only to the virtuous, it would make the world very good.
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I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.
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He who praises everybody, praises nobody.
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Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.
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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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Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.
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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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