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
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.
quotes understanding
I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
admitted among good smaller
A good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.
quotes
He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.
real men quality
A companion loves some agreeable qualities which a man may possess, but a friend loves the man himself.
freedom men liberty
If a man who is born to a fortune cannot make himself easier and freer than those who are not, he gains nothing.
friendship men people
When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.
sarcastic dog done
A woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinter legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to see it done at all.
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.
connections printer booksellers
The connection between authors, printers, and booksellers must be kept up.
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.
hero character air
Boswell, when he speaks of his Life of Johnson, calls it my magnum opus, but it may more properly be called his opera, for it is truly a composition founded on a true story, in which there is a hero with a number of subordinate characters, and an alternate succession of recitative and airs of various tone and effect, all however in delightful animation.
book writing men
Writing a book I have found to be like building a house. A man forms a plan, and collects materials.