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About this quote

What does it mean?
Silence tends to persist once conversation has stopped.
In plain terms
Silence lasts once conversation stops.
What can you take from it?
Breaking silence requires effort.

Where it applies

  • meetings
  • dates
  • negotiations

Putting it to work

  • ask questions
  • break the ice

Questions to consider

  • Why is silence hard?
  • How to restart talk?

Another view

Some silence is comfortable and intentional.

More from Samuel Johnson

  1. Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail.

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  2. The reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes in the farce of life.

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  3. This mournful truth is ev'rywhere confessed - Slow rises worth, by poverty depressed.

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