I argued that the chastity of women was of much more consequence than that of men, as the property and rights of families depend upon it.

Boswell, when he speaks of his Life of Johnson, calls it my magnum opus, but it may more properly be called his opera, for it is truly a composition founded on a true story, in which there is a hero with a number of subordinate characters, and an alternate succession of recitative and airs of various tone and effect, all however in delightful animation.

My mind was, as it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian ether.

We had some port, and drank damnation to the play and eternal remorse to the author.

What a curious creature is man; with what a variety of powers and faculties is he endued; yet how easily is he disturbed and put out of order.

When we know exactly all a man's views and how he comes to speak and act so and so, we lose any respect for him, though we may love and admire him.

Dr Johnson said, the inscription should have been in Latin, as every thing intended to be universal and permanent, should be.