James Boswell Quotes

James Boswell — Scottish Lawyer born on October 29, 1740, died on May 19, 1795

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 the modern Johnsonian critic Harold Bloom has claimed is the greatest biography written in the English language... (wikipedia)

A good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.

For my own part I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed: and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.

We must take our friends as they are.

A companion loves some agreeable qualities which a man may possess, but a friend loves the man himself.

I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding.