James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck, was a Scottish biographer and diarist, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson, which the modern Johnsonian critic Harold Bloom has claimed is the greatest biography written in the English language...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth29 October 1740
character men mirrors
[A]s a lady adjusts her dress before a mirror, a man adjusts his character by looking at his journal.
art science law
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.
latin should-have drs
Dr Johnson said, the inscription should have been in Latin, as every thing intended to be universal and permanent, should be.
life-is insignificant
What an insignificant life is this which I am now leading!
thinking may innocent
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.
connections printer booksellers
The connection between authors, printers, and booksellers must be kept up.
wine men giving
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.
country should-have years
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.
book way chance
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.
wine made ache
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.
real men quality
A companion loves some agreeable qualities which a man may possess, but a friend loves the man himself.
friendship men people
When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.
men order psychological
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.
men sloth laziness
The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.