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
men views may
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.
writing fancy may
I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically.
simple may gestures
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.
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.
three may different
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.
fifty man suppose thousand whom woman women
Boswell: "Pray, Sir, do you not suppose that there are fifty women in the world, with any one of whom a man may be as happy, as with any one woman in particular?" Johnson: "Ay, Sir, fifty thousand
quotes understanding
I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
laughter love wear worth
There is nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.
quotes
He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.
animal men suffering
But the question is, whether the animals who endure such sufferings of various kinds for the service and entertainment of man, would accept existence upon the terms on which they have it.
men generosity prodigals
If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.
melancholy silent unhappiness
Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.
mother ignorance worship
Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.
whimsical pleasure whim
The pleasure of gratifying whim is very great. It is known only by those who are whimsical.