The Fox and the Hare

Once upon a time a hare of philosophical temperament invited a politically oriented fox to dinner. During the entree the hare presented an interesting argument on the relativity of all law and morals, stressing that each beast, in the final analysis, has a right to his own legal system. The fox did not find this argument entirely convincing on the intellectual level, but was much impressed with it practically. For dessert he ate the hare: lapin `a la creme.

Moral: One’s philosophical viewpoint can be of immense practical consequence, especially when the stakes (steaks?) are high. — John Warwick Montgomery, The Law above the Law




From the Neck Up

Franklin Roosevelt once asked Harry Hopkins, “Harry, where is the population most dense in the United States?”

Harry grinned a moment, then said, “From the neck up.”

The Public Speaker’s Treasure Chest, 352.




Chesterton on Wasted Virtue

The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues. When a religious scheme is shattered (as Christianity was shattered at the Reformation), it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone. Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless. Thus some humanitarians only care for pity; and their pity (I am sorry to say) is often untruthful.

Chesterton, G. K.. Orthodoxy, pp. 25-26.




No Longer Water

My dad was teaching a Bible study from 1 Timothy 5. Verse 23, in the KJV, says, “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.”

One of the participants raised his hand. “Brother Moyer, the Bible says to drink no longer water. What exactly is this ‘longer water’ we’re not supposed to drink?”

Hey, he was just reading the text!




Grady’s Bible Story

There was an old preacher once who told some boys of the Bible lesson he was going to read in the morning. The boys, finding the place, glued together the connecting pages. The next morning he read on the bottom of one page, “When Noah was one hundred and twenty years old he took unto himself a wife, who was” … then turning the page … “140 cubic feet long, forty cubic feet wide, built of gopher wood, and covered with pitch inside and out.” He was naturally puzzled at this. He read it again, verified it, and then said: “Boys, this is the first time I ever met with this in the Bible, but I accept it as an evidence of the assertion that women are fearfully and wonderfully made.” 

from Wit, Wisdom, and Eloquence, 1930