Sunday, May 10, 2026

When you surround yourself with toadies and sycophants


 Some valuing those of their own side, or mind,
Still make themselves the measure of mankind:
Fondly we think we honour merit then,
When we but praise ourselves in other men.
 
-- Alexander Pope 

Friday, May 8, 2026

The Trump type has been known for centuries


  It is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs.

 -- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

 

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Time sanctifies everything, including monarchy


 
 Kings titles commonly begin by force,
Which time wears off and mellows into right.
 
-- John Dryden 

Saturday, May 2, 2026

There is safety in solitude

School of the Vestals, a painting by Hector Leroux, 1880


 How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
 
-- Alexander Pope