Poems List

I would rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.

I’ll come no more behind your scenes, David; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities.

to Garrick

If a kingdom be . . . a great family, a family likewise is a little kingdom, torn with factions and exposed to revolutions.
If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.

If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.

James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1755

If a man is in doubt whether it would be better for him to expose himself to martyrdom or not, he should not do it. He must be convinced that he has a delegation from heaven.
If a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him; for where there is nothing but pure misery there never is any recourse to the mention of it.

If a man were to go by chance at the same time with Burke under a shed, to shun a shower, he would say—‘this is an extraordinary man.’

on Edmund Burke

If I had no duties, and no reference to futurity, I would spend my life in driving briskly in a post-chaise with a pretty woman.

James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 19 September 1777

If the abuse be enormous, nature will rise up, and claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system.

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