Eric Scheske

"Silence puts man to the test." "That is what silence itself is: holy uselessness." "The mark of the Divine in things is preserved by their connection with the world of silence." "The man who lacks the substance of silence is oppressed by the

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) tended to dislike music. When someone tried to tell him about the merits of a violinist's performance, Johnson replied, "Difficult, do you call it, sir? I wish it were impossible."

Reckless moneymaking, status seeking, womanizing, overeating, addiction to delicacies and snacks, wine tippling, irascibility, anxiety, desire for fame and public recognition, fear of contact with other human beings. Those, said Cicero, were Roman characeristics as the Republic decayed and fell. The "polis is man written large." Plato.

"Have you heard of the Dwarves of the Corn?" Malcolm asked Mr. Rufus, who shook his head. "They are the malevolent beings who taunt people is rural areas. They swarm, hitting people with doubts and dissatisfaction. No matter how blessed, or wise, or knowledgeable, or rich a

Ireland yesterday outlawed smoking in pubs. While reading about it, I found this little piece of information: "The catering trade will have to remove all ashtrays and put up 'no smoking' signs within six weeks of the ban. . . The Office of Tobacco Control, which has been given

"The white man who begins by cheating a Negro usually ends by cheating a white man." Booker T. Washington

Perhaps no people were as fearsome and violent as the Vikings. Their love was war; their salvation was war. Seeing a comrade smitten with a hideous stomach wound, a Viking went to him and asked if it hurt. The warrior replied, "Only when I laugh."

"In morals, as in physics, the stream cannot rise higher than its source." John Henry Newman.

Why don't more bars have windows? Maybe it's a stain from the Puritans. Those guys were insufferable. They latched onto a few ideas like a burning marshmallow on a kid's forearm, substituted those ideas for complete reality, and self-righteously tried to force them

"One should be sufficiently intelligent and interested to know a good deal about any person one comes into close contact with. About her. Or about him. "But to try to know any living being is to try to suck the life out of that being."