James Boswell: Man

James Boswell was Scottish lawyer, diarist and author. Explore interesting quotes on man.
James Boswell: 46 quotes0 likes

“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

“[…] 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)

“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)

“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)

“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)