QOTD 0
Macauley, via the Quotemaster:
The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to
the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.
The precursor to Mencken’s definition:
“Puritanism – the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”
which is often rendered as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be having fun.”
Macauley was quite the child prodigy. Bennett Cerf told the story that, when Macauley was three and in his pram, he was bawling about having bitten his finger while eating a snack. A woman came up to him and said, “Did Ooo hurt Ooo’s ittle bitty finger?”
He stopped crying, looked at her, and said, “Madam, the agony has somewhat abated.”
Then he resumed crying.
