Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by James Boswell

Quote by James Boswell

“I make it a kind of pious rule to go to every funeral to which I am invited, both as I wish to pay a proper respect to the dead, unless their characters have been bad, and as I would wish to have the funeral of my own near relations or of myself well attended.”

Quote by James Boswell

Book:Boswell's Edinburgh Journals 1767-1786
Create image

Work

Boswell's Edinburgh Journals 1767-1786

These journals offer a detailed account of James Boswell's experiences and observations during his residence in Edinburgh, providing insights into the social and cultural landscape of the time. more

Author

James Boswell
James Boswell

James Boswell, born on October 29, 1740, and died on May 19, 1795, was a Scottish lawyer and writer. He is best known for his biography, 'The Life of Samuel Johnson,' which provides a detailed account of the life and thoughts of the 18th-century British writer Samuel Johnson. more

You May Also Like

“Addison writes with the ease of a gentleman. His readers fancy that a wise and accomplished companion is talking to them; so thathe insinuates his sentiments and taste into their minds by an imperceptible influence. Johnson writes like a teacher. He dictates to his readers as if from an academical chair. They attend with awe and admiration; and his precepts are impressed upon them by his commanding eloquence. Addison's style, like a light wine, pleases everybody from the first. Johnson's, like a liquor of more body, seems too strong at first, but, by degrees, is highly relished.”

IfsWritingMindFirstsBodyLightSeemsStrongTalkingTeacherWiseInfluenceStyleReaderPleaseTasteDegreesWineEaseGentlemanFancyAccomplishedAweChairsCompanionAdmirationSentimentsImpressedJohnsonEloquenceLiquor
Book:The life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: comprehending an account of his studies and numerous works, in chronological order; a series of his epistolary correspondence; and conversations with many eminent persons ...
Create image

“Why should not the knowledge, the skill, the expertness, the assiduity, and the spirited hazards of trade and commerce, when crowned with success, be entitled to give those flattering distinctions by which mankind are so universally captivated? Such are the specious, but false arguments for a proposition which always will find numerous advocates, in a nation where men are every day starting up from obscurity to wealth. To refute them is needless. The general sense of mankind cries out, with irresistible force, "Un gentilhomme est toujours gentilhomme.”

MenGivingShouldForceNationsWealthClassMankindCrySkillsArgumentTradeStartingDistinctionCommerceEntitledPropositionsIrresistibleObscurityHazardsFlatteringSpiritedCaptivatedIrresistible ForceStarting Up
Book:The Life of Samuel Johnson
Create image

“In comparing these two writers, he [Samuel Johnson] used this expression: "that there was as great a difference between them as between a man who knew how a watch was made, and a man who could tell the hour by looking on the dial-plate." This was a short and a figurative statement of his distinction between drawing characters of nature and characters only of manners, but I cannot help being of opinion, that the neat watches of Fielding are as well constructed as the large clocks of Richardson, and that his dial plates are brighter.”

MenWellsMadeTwoCharacterHelpingUsedHoursDifferencesOpinionWatchesExpressionDrawingStatementsMannersCompareClockDistinctionPlatesJohnsonBrighterNeat
Author:James Boswell
Create image