Date: 1791

"That his own diseased imagination should have so far deceived him, is strange; but it is stranger still that some of his friends should have given credit to his groundless opinion, when they had such undoubted proofs that it was totally fallacious; though it is by no means surprising that those ...

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"It seems as if his mind had ceased to struggle with the disease; for he grows fat upon it."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"I exclaimed to her, 'I am now, intellectually, Hermippus redivivus, I am quite restored by him, by transfusion of mind.'"

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"No, Sir; violent pain of mind, like violent pain of body, must be severely felt."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"The feeling of languor, which succeeds the animation of gaiety, is itself a very severe pain; and when the mind is then vacant, a thousand disappointments and vexations rush in and excruciate. Will not many even of my fairest readers allow this to be true?"

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"But, enough of this subject; for your angry voice at Ashbourne upon it, still sounds aweful 'in my mind's ears.'"

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"I have a wonderful superstitious love of mystery; when, perhaps, the truth is, that it is owing to the cloudy darkness of my own mind."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"I suppose, Sir, he has thought superficially, and seized the first notions which occurred to his mind. … Why then, Sir, still he is like a dog"

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"His supposed orthodoxy here cramped the vigorous powers of his understanding. He was confined by a chain which early imagination and long habit made him think massy and strong, but which, had he ventured to try, he could at once have snapt asunder."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)