_Life of Edmund Smith_ (alluding to the death of Garrick).
That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.
_Journey to the Western Islands: Inch Kenneth._
He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.
What is read twice is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed.
Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell).[369-1] _Vol. i. Chap. vii. 1743._
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. i. Chap. x. 1752._
This man [Chesterfield], I thought, had been a lord among wits; but I find he is only a wit among lords.[369-2]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. i. 1754._
Sir, he [Bolingbroke] was a scoundrel and a coward: a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half a crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger at his death.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. i. 1754._
Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground encumbers him with help?
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755._
I am glad that he thanks God for anything.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755._
If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755._
Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. iii. 1759._
Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious.[370-1]
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763._
The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high-road that leads him to England.
_Life of Johnson_ (Boswell). _Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763._
If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.