If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.
ATTRIBUTION:
Life of Johnson (Boswell).1Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763.
Note 1. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835.
Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]
