I advise all my young gentleman to wager on horses. Its much more suitable than voting and much less costly.

I regret, sir, that I was forced to give your advance copy of The Lost Symbol to a deserving elevator attendant. Young gentlemen’s tastes will run to lurid popular fiction involving the Mormons but the entertainment in question is not at all suitable leisure reading, sir. Riders of the Purple Sage or Sign of the Four in a tasteful bound volume would be much more fitting. I have placed copies by your bedside. Thank you, sir.

It is regrettable that Mr. Baruch Spinoza was never to turn his hand to scientifiction. (more…)

Political theorizing is not for every gentleman, indeed. But it is a maxim with me that these harmless avocations are to be tolerated and even encouraged. I will therefore say that it was the opinion of the late Mr. Madison and our other American cousins that a Republic would avoid many of the defects of a democracy. Mr. Tocqueville, a widely-traveled foreign gentleman, was of the opinion that Christian faith was an additional remedy to the rule of the lower classes.

Mr. Baruch Spinoza did not define monotheism that way, sir. I have always found him to be a reliable guide in these matters, sir. Thank you, sir.

It was the late Mr. Gilbert K. Chesterton who was led to observe that the deranged suffer not from a deficit of reason but from a deficit of everything else. On this, as in other matters, sir, I find him an invaluable guide. Thank you, sir.

That is indeed a favorite expression of the late Baruch Spinoza, sir, and I am glad it meets with your approval. (more…)