Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen. It is assuming a superiority, and it is particularly wrong to question a man concerning himself. There may be parts of his former life he may not wish to be made known to other persons, or even brought to his own recollection.

— James Boswell

James Boswell Quotes

As all who come into the country must obey the King, so all who come into an university must be of the Church.

— James Boswell

Many infidels have maintained that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.

— James Boswell

The pleasure of gratifying whim is very great. It is known only by those who are whimsical.

— James Boswell

There is indeed a strange prejudice against Quotation.

— James Boswell

Quotation is more universal and more ancient than one would perhaps believe.

— James Boswell

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.

— James Boswell

We often observe in lawyers, who as Quicquid agunt homines is the matter of law suits, are sometimes obliged to pick up a temporary knowledge of an art or science, of which they understood nothing till their brief was delivered, and appear to be much masters of it.

— James Boswell

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

— James Boswell

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

— James Boswell

I think there is a blossom about me of something more distinguished than the generality of mankind.

— James Boswell

Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.

— James Boswell

I argued that the chastity of women was of much more consequence than that of men, as the property and rights of families depend upon it.

— James Boswell

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.

— James Boswell

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.

— James Boswell

After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley’s ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, “I refute it thus.

— James Boswell

Every man should keep minutes of whatever he reads. Every circumstance of his studies should be recorded; what books he has consulted; how much of them he has read; at what times; how often the same authors; and what opinions he formed of them, at different periods of his life. Such an account would much illustrate the history of his mind.

— James Boswell

Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen. It is assuming a superiority, and it is particularly wrong to question a man concerning himself. There may be parts of his former life he may not wish to be made known to other persons, or even brought to his own recollection.

— James Boswell

I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don’t know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in.

— James Boswell

But we find that war is followed by no general good whatever. The power, the glory, or the wealth of a very few may be enlarged. But the people in general, upon both sides, after all the sufferings are passed, pursue their ordinary occupations, with no difference from their former state. The evils therefore of war... are a mere loss without any advantage...

— James Boswell

The value of every story depends on its being true. A story is a picture either of an individual or of human nature in general: if it be false, it is a picture of nothing.

— James Boswell
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