I worked with a guy who was well on his way to becoming a factory sage with a one-liner for everything.
Economic policy: "Get the country on its feet."
Theory of human nature: "Man is a violent thing."
Morality of the arms trade: "If other people want to be mad, that's their problem."
Theory of education: "You can't lead a donkey to water if he doesn't want to drink."
Philosophy of life: "I'm past thinking about life. It's just there."
The theory of education is an alternative version of "You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink."
Poul Anderson presents a few alternative versions of familiar phrases. See Parodying Shakespeare.
Van Rijn:
"'...what is sauce for the stews is sauce for the pander....'" ("Margin of Profit," p. 168)
"'...the foot is in the other shoe.'" (op. cit., p. 170)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I used to take riding lessons and there WERE times when the horse I rode did not want to drink water offered to it.
Sean
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