Quotation by Samuel Johnson

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Adventurer (October 16, 1753)Adventurer (London, January 19, 1754)Adventurer (London, March 2, 1754)Adventurer (London, Oct. 16, 1753)"Apophthegms" Works, ed. John Hawkins (1787-1789)

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speech (13) company (6) war (5) friends (5) friendship (5) peace (4) manners and social customs (4) gossip (4) defeat (4) battles (3)

Johnson did not answer ...; but talking for victory and determined to be master of the field, he had recourse to the device which Goldsmith imputed to him in the witty words of one of Cibber's comedies. "There is no arguing with Johnson; for when his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it."

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), British author, lexicographer. (Originally published 1791). Boswell's Life of Johnson, Oct. 26, 1769, p. 421, Oxford University Press (1980).

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