Quotation by Samuel Johnson

We stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I shall never forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, "I refute it thus."
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), British author, lexicographer. (Originally published 1791). Boswell's Life of Johnson, Aug. 6, 1763, p. 333, Oxford University Press (1980).
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