Life of Johnson, Volume 1 1709-1765 Quotes

“Almighty GOD, the giver of wisdom, without whose help resolutions are vain, without whose blessing study is ineffectual; enable me, if it be thy will, to attain such knowledge as may qualify me to direct the doubtful, and instruct the ignorant; to prevent wrongs and terminate contentions; and grant that I may use that knowledge which I shall attain, to thy glory and my own salvation, for JESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen[”
― James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Volume 1 1709-1765

“He that shall resolutely excite his faculties, or exert his virtues, will soon make himself superiour to the seasons; and may set at defiance the morning mist and the evening damp, the blasts of the east, and the clouds of the south[”
― James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Volume 1 1709-1765

“Surely, nothing is more reproachful to a being endowed with reason, than to resign its powers to the influence of the air, and live in dependence on the weather and the wind for the only blessings which nature has put into our power, tranquillity and benevolence.”
― James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Volume 1 1709-1765

“The worst of Warburton is, that he has a rage for saying something, when there's nothing to be said.”
― James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Volume 1 1709-1765

“The great business of his life (he said) was to escape from himself; this disposition he considered as the disease of his mind, which nothing cured but company.”
― James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Volume 1 1709-1765