Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Jairajnand, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
The lord of Benares is so partial to venison that fields lie fallow and marketplaces stand empty while his people catch deer for him.
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© Eric Kilby, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Following the election of a new leader, the wolves listen with approval to his plans for a fairer pack but there is something they don’t know.
Photo by Mark Owens, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Open Government Licence version 1.0.
Schools inspector Edmond Holmes expressed frustration with those who think that society at large owes them unthinking obedience.
By Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
The people who oil the wheels of society are not the people who never give offence, they are the people who never take any.
© Chemical Engineer, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
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.
© Maxwell Hamilton, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic.
If officials in the Raj ever forgot who their boss was, they would bring the whole government down about their ears.