Quote of the Post

"You can never, unfortunately, make virtue as interesting as vice, for virtue is negative and vice is positive. The man who does not do certain things is the better citizen, but he has not the glamour of the man who does do them. It is sad but true."

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Last Resource, short story

The perfect explanation of tabloid journalism, I think.

" 'It would be well,' the Scotsman concluded, 'if those who express opinions on such subjects would bear in mind those simple rules of evidence laid down by Auguste Dupin. "Exclude the impossible," he remarks in one of Poe's immortal stories, "and whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truth." ' "

Doyle, The Fate Of the Evangeline, short story

Fans of Sherlock Holmes will recognize this as his famous rule. This story was published in 1885, two years before the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, was published. I have yet to search Poe's stories for the quote, but I have never heard it attributed to anyone but Holmes (Doyle). I wonder, though, if perhaps Doyle was already thinking and writing about his soon to be iconic creation, and needed a source for the quote. As a fan of Poe, I look forward to the upcoming research.

Quote of the Post

"For all its fiery rhetoric and holy panoply, the second crusade turned quickly into an anarchic mess and, finally, an unmitigated disaster. It is an axiom of history- which it would reward contemporary politicians to consider- that few human endeavors prove as pointless as projects of religiously inspired military idealism unaccompanied by worldly understanding, strategic thoughtfulness, and common sense."

Thomas Cahill Mysteries of the Middle Ages

Astute readers will recognize this writer. He is on my recommended list for the series of books he calls 'The Hinges of History'. This quote is from one of the books in that series.

There are so many groups and nations to which this passage could be aimed, that I leave it to you to apply as needed.