James Boswell
Born: 01-01-1740
James Boswell was an 18th-century Scottish biographer and diarist, best known for his work "The Life of Samuel Johnson," which is considered a seminal biography in English literature. Born in Edinburgh in 1740, Boswell was a lawyer by profession but gained fame through his candid and detailed journals. His writings offer a vivid portrayal of social life in his era, showcasing his keen observational skills and literary talent.
Book summaries for books written by James Boswell
Quotes
A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it.
To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition.
A man, sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.
The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.
He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.
When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.
The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne.
Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.
A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.
Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.
A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table than when his wife talks Greek.