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
influence proportion should
Influence must ever be in proportion to property; and it is right it should.
writing fancy may
I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically.
trying journalism let-me
I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate.
mind
My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.
home germany citizens
I am, I flatter myself, completely a citizen of the world. In my travels through Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Corsica, France, I never felt myself from home.
friendship wine should
Friendship, "the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be continually renewed.
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.
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.
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.
prejudice strange quotations
There is indeed a strange prejudice against Quotation.
whimsical pleasure whim
The pleasure of gratifying whim is very great. It is known only by those who are whimsical.
evil world care
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.
littles little-things strict
One must be strict even in little things.
hero drinking wine
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.