Quotes from James Boswell

I suppose no person ever enjoyed with more relish the infusion of this fragrant leaf than did Johnson.

But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?

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.

If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.

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.

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.

All censure of a man's self is oblique praise.

The man who stops making new friends eventually will have none.

Writing a book I have found to be like building a house. A man forms a plan, and collects materials.

The scent of Sloth tempts a smug man.

[A]s a lady adjusts her dress before a mirror, a man adjusts his character by looking at his journal.

O charitable philosopher, I beg you to help me. My mind is weak but my soul is strong. Kindle that soul, and the sacred fire shall never be extinguished.

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.

I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.

I am sensible that my keenness of temper, and a vanity to be distinguished for the day, make me too often splash in life.... I amresolved to restrain myself and attend more to decorum.

He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.

I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically.

Friendship, "the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be continually renewed.

What an insignificant life is this which I am now leading!

There is nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.

Drinking is in reality an occupation which employs a considerable portion of the time of many people; and to conduct it in the most rational and agreeable manner is one of the great arts of living.

A companion loves some agreeable qualities which a man may possess, but a friend loves the man himself.

A good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.

We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over. So in a series of kindnesses there is, at last, one which makes the heart run over.