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
drs vines pruning
Dr. Johnson ... sometimes employed himself in chymistry, sometimes in watering and pruning a vine, and sometimes in small experiments, at which those who may smile, should recollect that there are moments which admit of being soothed only by trifles.
quotes understanding
I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
quotes
He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.
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
laughter love wear worth
There is nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.
melancholy silent unhappiness
Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.
whimsical pleasure whim
The pleasure of gratifying whim is very great. It is known only by those who are whimsical.
prejudice strange quotations
There is indeed a strange prejudice against Quotation.
book science journey
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.
dream sleep thoughtful
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.
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.
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.
mind
My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.