Classic Comments on the Quote

[oddcouple]

"Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves."
— Abbe Dimnet

Dynamite
March 1, 2009, 8:13 pm
Never a truer quote!
badfrog
April 14, 2009, 4:15 pm
The author is Ernest Dimnet
bansaisequoia
June 23, 2009, 1:18 pm
Abbe is a title for a French clergyman.
montyb
December 24, 2012, 6:33 pm
So if one writes to him for advice, one should write to "Dear Abbe"?
agatha
May 26, 2013, 12:59 am
That's truly funny, monty.
agatha
May 26, 2013, 1:05 am
or should I say Monte
abracadebra
February 23, 2015, 2:10 pm
I believe as long as the both sides are equally balanced then it is morally excepted behavioural learning therapy.
LLapp
February 25, 2015, 6:51 am
How did agatha do that?
wvwoman
July 25, 2015, 4:24 pm
she got the quote twice in one night, llapp.
marnita
March 4, 2016, 8:40 am
I think it is possible to leave two comments, one right after the other, as long as one has not left the page. Maybe I will try it.
marnita
October 31, 2016, 10:30 am
Well, I think it used to be possible, but I guess not any more.
darkyr
December 22, 2016, 4:42 am
I'll just leave the one comment and I think we will all feel better for it.
LLapp
February 28, 2017, 2:01 pm
Look! I made it back! Took a year and a half, but it worked.
LLapp
October 18, 2018, 5:46 pm
^^?? Okay it was 2 years.

[oddcouple]

I'd never heard Maradnu's version. In the story I heard back when I was in college, the brother who survived was shopping for a preacher who would call the deceased man a saint. After approaching every church in town, one pastor finally agreed to call the brother a saint for $10 thousand. The rest of the pastors in town were shocked and attended the funeral just to see for themselves how this pastor could be so dishonest. The pastor in his eulogy carried on for several minutes as to the evils and lies of the deceased brother. Looking straight at the survivor, he said "Jack Thompson was the most evil person I ever knew, but compared to his brother, he was a saint."

Same joke, different religion. Not sure which version is funnier.

[maradnu]

There once were two evil brothers. They were rich and used their money to keep their evil ways from the public eye. They attended the same temple, and to everyone else, they appeared to be perfect Jews.

One day, their rabbi retired and a new one was hired. Not only could the new rabbi see right through the brothers' deceptions, but he also spoke well and true about it. Due to the rabbi's honesty and integrity, the temple's membership grew in numbers. Eventually, a fundraising campaign was started to build a much bigger temple.

All of a sudden, one of the brothers died. The remaining brother sought out the new rabbi the day before the funeral and handed him a check for the amount needed to complete the new building. He held the check for the rabbi to see.

"I have only one condition," he said. "At the funeral, you must say my brother was a mensch. You must say those exact words."

After some thought, the rabbi gave his word and took the check. He cashed it immediately.

At the funeral the next day, however, the rabbi did not hold back. "He was an evil man," he said about the dead brother. "He cheated on his wife and abused his family. Never once did he commit an unselfish act." He railed on and on about the deceased. After nearly a half hour of the evil truth, the rabbi paused and shrugged his shoulders. Finally, he said, "But compared to his brother, he was a mensch."

[Eureka]

Related to Quizzical's quote above, I have a friend who had a no-goodnik (if ever there was one - an abusive drunk/drug addict often in trouble with the law and who cost her a lot more money than he ever contributed to their household) for a husband for a time when she was young - she had two kids with him before he left. A few years later- she'd divorced him using legal reasons of abandonment by then - she got a call from social security saying he'd been found dead (drowned in a puddle after a bar fight - I know, I know, it's like a melodramatic crime novel) and that she was entitled to social security for her kids. She always said that "being dead was the best job he'd ever had." Oh ... there is a happy ending - a few years after that, she met and fell in love with a very nice sane, responsible fellow and they've lived more-or-less happily ever after since ... though her two kids from that marriage (now young adults) didn't fare so well, I'm afraid.

Wow, what a strange turn of events, Fudi. I hope her kids are able to sort their lives out and not follow in their dad's footsteps.

[Fudi]

Related to Quizzical's quote above, I have a friend who had a no-goodnik (if ever there was one - an abusive drunk/drug addict often in trouble with the law and who cost her a lot more money than he ever contributed to their household) for a husband for a time when she was young - she had two kids with him before he left. A few years later- she'd divorced him using legal reasons of abandonment by then - she got a call from social security saying he'd been found dead (drowned in a puddle after a bar fight - I know, I know, it's like a melodramatic crime novel) and that she was entitled to social security for her kids. She always said that "being dead was the best job he'd ever had." Oh ... there is a happy ending - a few years after that, she met and fell in love with a very nice sane, responsible fellow and they've lived more-or-less happily ever after since ... though her two kids from that marriage (now young adults) didn't fare so well, I'm afraid.

[Eureka]

That time when Unattributed was dead wrong.

"A cemetery is the only place where people don't try to keep up with the Joneses. "
— Unattributed

susanj512
February 21, 2009, 7:13 pm
weird!!!

bansaisequoia
April 12, 2010, 10:04 pm
My monument's bigger than your monument.

universalmom
September 23, 2014, 2:33 pm
compensation

montyb
January 3, 2015, 11:21 am
Epitaph envy, Bansai?

Quizzical
January 5, 2015, 3:11 pm
The Joneses are a lot easier to keep up with in there. I knew a lady that used to say of her deceased husband, "At least I know where he is every night now."

skeeter
March 25, 2017, 8:10 am
They just keep up with the boneses.

maradnu
November 12, 2017, 2:22 pm
Bet me. Look at those who have very fancy monuments.

[badbob]

it should be "nor"

[LLapp]

I'm really enjoying the silliness in the comments tonight....

"Reform is not pleasant, but grievous; no person can reform themselves without suffering and hard work, how much less a nation." — Thomas Carlyle

daris_moore
May 26, 2012, 3:28 am
The 'how' does not make sense.

wvwoman
June 14, 2013, 9:28 pm
i agree, the "how" doesn't seem to belong there.

Quizzical
October 28, 2013, 3:33 am
Sounds okay to me. It is just a sentence structure not regularly used today. It is the more complete form, i.e. we normally just leave out the "how".

montyb
January 19, 2015, 2:39 pm
It sounds okay to me, also. But then again, I'm not a structure that is regularly used today either.

abra
December 30, 2015, 5:43 pm
I thought it sounded ok. Maybe I go back far enough that the sentence structure doesn't bother me.

darkyr
August 11, 2017, 4:31 am
How much farther back must you go for it not to be a bother?

vintage38
May 28, 2018, 8:09 am
39 seconds

marnita
July 16, 2018, 12:12 pm
I don't think that's far enough, vintage38.

[LLapp]

"There is no point in arguing about matters of taste." — Unattributed

bansaisequoia
January 30, 2011, 5:27 am
This is in very poor taste.

fishbum
March 16, 2011, 6:27 pm
I don't think so.

pajarito7
October 5, 2011, 1:06 am
Stop arguing and go to your rooms.

SillySil
January 12, 2013, 5:30 pm
OMG Someone beside that bans guy got the fastest time!

abra
July 11, 2014, 4:22 pm
Of course, someone sent that "bans guy" to his room.

Spenser
March 6, 2015, 4:47 am
Tell that to my thirteen-year-old daughter.

universalmom
August 18, 2015, 3:01 pm
Hahaha "that bans guy"

Annamariah
September 10, 2015, 6:26 am
Is there more point arguing about facts?

marnita
December 30, 2015, 4:46 pm
De gustibus non est disputandum.

munchlet
September 23, 2016, 2:39 am
Exactly what I was thinking, Marnita.

abra
February 28, 2017, 8:59 am
Me too, but I had to have it translated first.

Persephone59
August 4, 2017, 11:57 pm
There IS no point in arguing about taste! I'm right and you're wrong!

maradnu
October 8, 2017, 2:24 am
Of course there's a point - it's fun arguing about inane matters that adversely affect no one whatsoever.

[LLapp]

"Ridicule is a weak weapon when pointed at a strong mind; but common people are cowards and dread an empty laugh." — Martin Tupper

abra
August 23, 2013, 2:07 am
Could be, or maybe Mr. Tupper is a bully.

nevadasmith68
September 1, 2013, 1:39 pm
Martin was later hanged at a tupperware party.

abra
December 14, 2014, 12:09 pm
Oh, I hate it when a Tupperware party turns into a hanging.

kb83
November 12, 2015, 4:09 am
This neighborhood is too big for 2 tupperware hosts.

Barnabas
July 8, 2016, 5:01 pm
And what did Martin Tupper wear at the Tupperware party?

Jalapenoman
January 18, 2017, 1:52 pm
Did they remember to burp the seal on Tupper's coffin?

[oddcouple]

"The only thing that ever sat its way to success was a hen."
— Sarah Brown

kjmcaj
June 19, 2013, 4:15 pm
54 seconds.
GtrZan
October 28, 2013, 4:57 am
that's a good one
chopstix
February 3, 2014, 9:24 am
But there are more than a few who have laid their way to success...
LLapp
December 2, 2016, 11:03 am
So why is "laying an egg" an idiom for failure?
bkmcincinnati
January 8, 2017, 1:41 am
To crow is one thing, but to produce is another. Said the hen to the rooster.
Nollij
October 6, 2017, 4:15 am
And boy did she strain those out while sitting.
killdozer
February 27, 2018, 1:44 pm
The one percent does nothing but profit off the labor of others.
Persephone59
June 3, 2018, 9:53 am
Wow, killdozer, that was a hard one to politicize, but you found a way!
agatejane
August 13, 2018, 11:22 am
I feel like this quote is directed at me.
imsoeasy
December 4, 2018, 12:09 am
Just 1%? Let''s look at the figures +100 % Population in US - 60.6% Employed = 39.4% Not employed - 20 % Means tested Government Assistance - 1 % Those Scum Sucking Capitalists = 18.4% Others not employed (retired, etc.)

[LLapp]

""Therefore" is a word the poet must not know." — Andre Gide

abra
November 8, 2013, 6:21 am
Why?

kb83
April 19, 2014, 7:02 pm
suggests determinism antithetical to poetic sense?

LLapp
March 2, 2015, 4:59 pm
Pretty slick answer, kb83.

Capy
January 10, 2017, 11:14 pm
Are you saying a poet cannot be a scientist and if not why not?

marnita
July 10, 2017, 2:23 pm
"Wherefore," on the other hand, is fine.

kb83
January 11, 2018, 4:18 am
and "care for", and "there for", marnita.

lertsek
June 12, 2018, 11:26 am
That and "paid in full".

Elephino
July 4, 2019, 3:40 pm
"nevermore" has been determined as acceptable too

[Eureka]

That time when everyone was defending soda crackers, but then queethebean said what we were all really thinking....

"The inventor of soda crackers has a place in hell." — Martin H. Fischer

pootie49
May 24, 2011, 2:26 pm
Hold on...pregnant women would disagree with that. And do you not know of a thing called a dustbuster???

bansaisequoia
June 14, 2012, 4:04 pm
I'm sorry, but, Denise Richards may not eat them in MY bed.

momof7
August 8, 2014, 1:17 am
A wee bit harsh.

Beagle
November 21, 2014, 7:11 am
I love soda crackers.

abra
January 24, 2015, 8:42 am
Where would peanut butter be without them?

elsiegirl
March 5, 2015, 7:58 am
On bread and celery.

abra
April 19, 2015, 2:46 pm
You could, but it wouldn't be the same.

montyb
June 10, 2015, 2:44 pm
I originally had "soya crackers" which, of course, would deserve a place in Hell.

marnita
November 8, 2015, 11:57 am
Yes, monty, that would make much more sense.

Lurker
June 12, 2016, 6:51 am
This quote must predate the invention of the vacuum cleaner.

hisashiburi
August 23, 2016, 4:00 am
Fischer was a physician; a reference, perhaps, to the use of soda crackers as a home remedy that may mask symptoms of a serious and/or chronic problem.

MamaB
October 28, 2017, 3:05 am
With chicken soups and stews - OMG Yum!

abra
May 16, 2018, 6:43 pm
yoga crackery -- I knew he was a physician and I wondered what he didn't like about yoga.

Spenser
August 14, 2018, 2:49 am
some people have such strong opinions about the least interesting things.

abra
October 15, 2018, 11:22 am
God point, Spenser.

LLapp
January 23, 2019, 11:07 pm
Yoga crackery! Haha!

Queethebean
May 23, 2019, 8:50 pm
If someone is going to hell for merely inventing soda crackers, I think I may be in big trouble.

[oddcouple]

Udder Foolishness

"Milk the cow, but do not pull off the udder. "
— Proverb


Lurker
March 17, 2012, 1:02 am
Ow
saipanwriter
August 22, 2012, 12:43 am
kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one, huh...
Altoid701
November 14, 2012, 1:53 am
Noted.
joed
January 4, 2013, 6:08 pm
Ouch...
montyb
July 25, 2013, 3:06 pm
There's a graphic I didn't need.
maradnu
October 2, 2013, 11:13 am
Put the squeeze on you
wvwoman
May 7, 2014, 12:31 pm
WHAT???!!
kb83
May 29, 2014, 4:17 am
sometimes I feel like an udderless cow.
dovid1946
May 13, 2015, 7:04 pm
it would be an udder catastrophe
gavinl
March 22, 2016, 12:38 pm
it's a fine line sometimes
maradnu
October 3, 2016, 6:22 am
Udder nonsense
bigdave
December 14, 2017, 10:36 am
de udder what?
SippyGurl
July 11, 2018, 3:43 pm
and watch the teeth too
318WOZ
January 24, 2019, 2:04 pm
Ha ha, boy, oh, boy. Good times. I remember when I was younger and I used to pull off the cow's udders all the time. I just shake my head now at the mistakes of my youth. I almost wish that someone had shared this wisdom with me before I mutilated so many animals, but hey, we've got to learn somehow, right? Such good memories.

[Eureka]

Cryptograms suddenly got a lot more challenging:

"Poverty is no disgrace to a man, but it is confoundedly inconvenient. " — Sydney Smith

maradnu
April 1, 2015, 12:06 pm
No s***

puzzleme
June 10, 2017, 2:55 pm
No soup? No scab? No seat? What are you trying to tell us, maradnu?

seastar228
January 3, 2018, 9:39 am
It is hard enough to switch letters, now we have only stars to try and figure this out.