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Thread: Anecdote of the day |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 545
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Bishop Milton Wright
(1828–1917) One day the Bishop Wright was discussing philosophy with a college professor. The bishop's opinion was that the millennium was at hand. As evidence, he cited the fact that everything about nature had already been discovered and that all useful inventions had already been made. The professor politely told the bishop that he was mistaken. "Why, in a few years," he said, "we'll be able to fly through the air." "What a nonsensical idea," Bishop Wright said. "Flight," he assured the professor, "is reserved for the birds and the angels." [Bishop Wright was the father of two young budding inventors named Orville and Wilbur!] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
A newspaper to which Rudyard Kipling subscribed published by mistake an announcement of his death. Kipling wrote at once to the editor: "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
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bjbdbest
Master Cruncher Joined: May 11, 2007 Post Count: 2333 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Albert Einstein was often asked to explain the general theory of relativity.
----------------------------------------"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour," he once declared. "Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity!" |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Daniel Webster's father left him and his brother Ezekiel alone one day and gave them specific instructions as to the work they were to accomplish. On his return, he found the task still undone, and severely questioned his sons about their idleness. "What have you been doing, Ezekiel?" he asked.
"Nothing, sir." "Well, Daniel, what have you been doing?" "Helping Zeke, sir." |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
On a visit to Israel as mayor of West Berlin, Brandt was invited to view the great new Mann auditorium in Tel Aviv. Having expressed his appreciation of Israel's naming the concert hall for Thomas Mann, the German writer, Brandt was politely corrected by his host. The hall was actually named for a certain Frederic Mann of Philadelphia. "What did he ever write?" exclaimed Brandt. "A check," came the reply
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Dumas's quarrel with a rising young politician became so intense that a duel was inevitable. As both were superb shots, they decided to draw lots, the loser agreeing to shoot himself. Dumas lost. Pistol in hand, he withdrew in silent dignity to another room, closing the door behind him. The rest of the company waited in gloomy suspense for the sound of the shot that would end Dumas's career. It rang out at last. They ran to the door, opened it, and there was Dumas, smoking revolver in hand. "Gentlemen, a most regrettable thing has happened. I missed."
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
In 1810 William Henry Harrison, then governor of Indiana Territory, was negotiating with Tecumseh in order to try to prevent open hostilities. He ordered a chair to be brought for the Shawnee chief. The man who brought it said, "Your father, General Harrison, offers you a seat."
"My father!" Tecumseh exclaimed. "The sun is my father and the earth is my mother, and on her breast will I lie." Ignoring the chair, he stretched himself out on the ground. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
During the 1957 World Series, Yankee catcher Yogi Berra noticed that Hank Aaron grasped the bat the wrong way. "Turn it around," he said, "so you can see the trademark." But Hank kept his eye on the pitcher's mound; "Didn't come up here to read. Came up here to hit."
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Hemingway's son Patrick asked his father to edit a story he had written. Hemingway went through the manuscript carefully, then returned it to his son. "But, Papa," cried Patrick in dismay, "you've only changed one word."
"If it's the right word," said Hemingway, "that's a lot." |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Early in the Revolutionary War, Washington sent one of his officers to requisition horses from the local landowners. Calling at an old country mansion the officer was received by the elderly mistress of the house. "Madam, I have come to claim your horses in the name of the government," he began. "On whose orders?" demanded the woman sternly. "On the orders of General George Washington, commander in chief of the American army," replied the officer. The old lady smiled. "You go back and tell General George Washington that his mother says he cannot have her horses," she said.
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