The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

631

Photo by Mark Owens, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Open Government Licence version 1.0.

The Dogmatist Edmond Gore Alexander Holmes

Schools inspector Edmond Holmes expressed frustration with those who think that society at large owes them unthinking obedience.

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632

By Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

No Offence Ralph Waldo Emerson

The people who oil the wheels of society are not the people who never give offence, they are the people who never take any.

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633

© Chemical Engineer, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

A Work of Art Ralph Waldo Emerson

The man who seems frustratingly dull and awkward may shine in other company, and we owe it to him and to ourselves to read the signs.

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634

© Maxwell Hamilton, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic.

Kipling’s Proof Rudyard Kipling

If officials in the Raj ever forgot who their boss was, they would bring the whole government down about their ears.

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635

Photo by Wolfgang Rieger. From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Heracles and the Flea Sir Roger L’Estrange

A man begs the mighty Heracles to save him the effort of despatching a flea.

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636

© Alexey Komarov, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Dog Collar Joseph Jacobs

A scrawny wolf listens enviously as a well-fed dog describes the comforts of home, but a flat patch of fur on the dog’s neck worries him.

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