WISDOMused to refer to a kind of sausage, a
potentially treacherous mixture of
mixed meats. In this case the proof is
the act of testing it by tasting it.
Be the change you
want to see in the world
This gorgeous quote by Gandhi is
probably the most inspiring thing
he never said. At least, not in those
words. he guru’s original statement
from which this is derived: “If we
could change ourselves, the tenden-
cies in the world would also change.
As a man changes his own nature, so
does the attitude of the world change
towards him.” Sadly, that doesn’t it on
a bumper sticker as well.
Curiosity killed the cat
The earliest-known version of this
expression, written by Ben Jonson
and popularised by his frenemy Wil-
liam Shakespeare, goes: “Care killed
the cat”. With ‘care’ being used here
to mean ‘worry’, the historical gist
is that an anxious person (or feline)
can literally worry themselves sick.
It’s unclear how ‘care’ became ‘curi-
osity’ in the late 1800s but it is clear
that modern speakers almost always
forget the rejoinder irst published in
1905: “Curiosity killed the cat...but
satisfaction brought it back.” In other
words, being nosy might get you into
trouble, but learning the truth is often
worth the risk.Great minds think alike
If this quote was meant in earnest,
Socrates might have penned it in-
stead of drinking hemlock. As vari-
ous books of proverbs point out, the
now-ubiquitous slogan is best used
sarcastically. To drive that point
home is the rejoinder most of us
often leave out: “Great minds think
alike ... and fools seldom difer.”When one door closes,
another opens
his motivational parable has its heart
in the right place. But for all the pos-
itivity of this slogan, the little-uttered
second half counters with a dose of
reality: “When one door closes an-
other door opens, but we so often
look so long and so regretfully upon
the closed door, that we do not see the
ones which open for us.” Keep that in
mind the next time a door slams shut- before the next one opens, you may
need to turn around.
April• 2018 | 47