Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Number 10, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.
We all want our politicians to be clever men, but being cunning isn’t the same as being wise.
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© Tom Parnell, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.
The best holidays are the ones that make us long for home.
Photo by W. & D. Downey, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.
Thomas Huxley believed that if schools did not ground their pupils in common sense, life’s examinations would be painful.
By Edward Ardizzone, via Wikimedia Commons. ? Public domain, or ? IWM Non Commercial Licence.
Sir Philip Sidney reminded comedians that when the audience is laughing they aren’t necessarily the better for it.
By Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
As penance for involuntary manslaughter, Heracles was sentenced to slavery under the playful rod of Omphale, Queen of Lydia.
© Ashab, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Persian scholar Al-Ghazali feared for any country where morals were lagging behind brains.