John

“It is a well-known fact that the Black Death was brought into England by lawyers.”
― Alan Bradley, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

“The great majority of habitual drinkers are born not only without desire for alcohol, but with actual repugnance toward it. Not the first, nor the twentieth, nor the hundredth drink, succeeded in giving them the liking. But they learned, just as men learn to smoke; though it is far easier to learn to smoke than to learn to drink. They learned because alcohol was so accessible.”
― Jack London, John Barleycorn: Alcoholic Memoirs

“It has been my experience that facetiousness in the mouth of someone old enough to know better is often no more than camouflage for something far, far worse.”
― Alan Bradley, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

“If you consulted your business experience instead of your ugly individualistic philosophy, you would know that believing in himself is one of the commonest signs of a rotter. Actors who can't act believe in themselves; and debtors who won't pay. It would be much truer to say that a man will certainly fail, because he believes in himself. Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin; complete self-confidence is a weakness.”
― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy