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James Boswell Quotes

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 is commonly said to be the greatest biography written in the English language.

Boswell's surname has passed into the English language as a term for a constant companion and observer, especially one who records those observations in print. In "A Scandal in Bohemia", Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes affectionately says of Dr. Watson, who narrates the tales, "I am lost without my Boswell."

✵ 29. October 1740 – 19. May 1795
James Boswell photo

Works

The Life of Samuel Johnson
James Boswell: 23 quotes0 likes

Famous James Boswell Quotes

“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 acts of kindness there is, at last, one which makes the heart run over.”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

(19 September 1777)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
Variant: 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.

“It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

October 26, 1769, p. 174
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II
Source: The Life of Samuel Johnson

“Quoting: "Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.”

James Boswell

Source: Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides

“I jumped up on the benches, roared out, "Damn you, you rascals!", hissed and was in the greatest rage. […] I hated the English; I wished from my soul that the Union was broke and that we might give them another battle of Bannockburn.”

James Boswell

On an occasion of mocking a pair of Highland officers, circa 1672, as attributed by Ruaridh Nicoll, "As a Scot, I hate this idea of a neutered nation" http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/apr/22/scotland.devolution, The Observer, 22 April 2007

“[…] for the Doctor observed, that no man takes upon himself small blemishes without supposing that great abilities are attributed to him; and that, in short, this affectation of candour or modesty was but another kind of indirect self-praise, and had its foundation in vanity.”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

30 November 1784
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)

“I regretted I was not the head of a clan; however, though not possessed of such an hereditary advantage, I would always endeavour to make my tenants follow me.”

James Boswell

(31 August 1773
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785)

James Boswell Quotes

“The best good man, with the worst natur'd muse.”

James Boswell

Quoting John Wilmot, earl of Rochester's poem "To Lord Buckhurst", (18 August 1773)
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785)

“My lord and Dr Johnson disputed a little, whether the savage or the London shopkeeper had the best existence; his lordship, as usual, preferring the savage.”

James Boswell

The lord was James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, (21 August 1773)
See similar debate in Angel.
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785)

“Then, all censure of a man's self is oblique praise.”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

25 April 1778
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)

“Sir,' said Mr Johnson, 'a lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes, unless his client asks his opinion, and then he is bound to give it honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the judge.”

James Boswell

15 August 1773
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785)

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

James Boswell

Quoting Samuel Johnson (16 August 1773)
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785)

“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

Quoting Samuel Johnson (19 August 1773)
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785)

“Influence must ever be in proportion to property; and it is right it should.”

James Boswell

Quoting Samuel Johnson (18 August 1773)
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785)

“Johnson is dead. Let us go to the next best — there is nobody; no man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson.”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

Quoting William Gerard Hamilton (1784)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)

“Boswell is pleasant and gay,
For frolic by nature designed;
He heedlessly rattles away
When company is to his mind.”

James Boswell

In a poem about himself, in "Biographic Sketches" in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal Vol. IV (1836). p. 341

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

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

Comment on Samuel Johnson's treatment of Thomas Sheridan (16 October 1769)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)

“What can he mean by coming among us? He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

Spoken by Samuel Foote about a "law-Lord" (1783)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)

“[…] I observed he [Samuel Johnson] poured a large quantity of it [wine] into a glass, and swallowed it greedily. Everything about his character and manners was forcible and violent; there never was any moderation; many a day did he fast, many a year did he refrain from wine; but when he did eat, it was voraciously; when he did drink wine, it was copiously. He could practise abstinence, but not temperance.”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

March 1781
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)

“You are a philosopher, Dr. Johnson. I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don't know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in.”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

Quoting Edwards, an old schoolmate of Johnson's (17 April 1778)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)

“In every place, where there is any thing worthy of observation, there should be a short printed directory for strangers.”

James Boswell

19 August 1773
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785)

“His mind resembled the vast ampitheatre, the Colisæum at Rome. In the centre stood his judgement, which like a mighty gladiator, combated those apprehensions that, like the wild beasts of the Arena, were all around in cells, ready to be let out upon him. After a conflict, he drives them back into their dens; but not killing them, they were still assailing him.”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

Referring to Johnson (26 October 1769)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)

“Such groundless fears will arise in the mind, before it has resumed its vigour after sleep!”

James Boswell

1 September 1773
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785)

“When I called upon Dr. Johnson next morning, I found him highly satisfied with his colloquial prowess the preceding evening. "Well, (said he,) we had good talk." BOSWELL: "Yes, Sir, you tossed and gored several persons."”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

1768
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)

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