“Even wit is a burden when it talks too long.”

(Dryden)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
31 December 1971

“If every man confined his observations to subjects in which he was qualified to talk, there would be, throughout the world, a deathly silence.”

(Chinese Proverb)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
30 December 1971

The least pain in our little finger gives us more concern and uneasiness than the daily reports of death on the road.

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
27 December 1971

“Very dull party, isn’t it?”
“Yes, very.”
“Let’s go home.”
“I can’t. I’m the host.”

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
25 December 1971

Man – a creature who buys football tickets three months in advance and waits until Christmas Eve to do his gift shopping.

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
24 December 1971

Bless the Municipality for installing traffic lights at the corner of Sinoia and Bank Streets – now we can get home for lunch on time. How about putting some also at the cnr. of Pioneer and Manica? (A few more red lights around there won’t do any harm!)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
23 december 1971

“SAINT:- a dead sinner revived and edited.”

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
22 December 1971

“…fanaticism consists of redoubling one’s efforts after having forgotten one’s sin.”

(Santayana)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
21 December 1971

I count life just a stuff
To try the soul’s strength on.

(Robert Browning)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
20 December 1971

The milk of human kindness ran
In rich abundance in his breast,
It left thin grease stains on the tan
Of his asbestos vest.

(Paul Tanaquil – Philanthropist)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
19 December 1971

Cause I’s wicked, I is. I’s mighty wicked, anyhow. I can’t help it.

(Harriet B. Stowe – Uncle Tom’s Cabin)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
18 December 1971

Loneliness is onlyness.

(A Salisbury friend)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
17 December 1971

My son tells me that there are three ways to send a message – telephone, telegram and telewoman.

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
16 December 1971

I prefer the most unjust peace to the justest war that was ever waged.

(Cicero)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
15 December 1971

There are many people who would never have been in love if they had never heard love spoken of.

(François de La Rochefoucauld)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
14 December 1971

He loves his bonds, who, when the first are broke,
Submits his neck unto a second yoke.

(Robert Herrick)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
13 December 1971

Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? Is it because we are not the person concerned?

(Mark Twain)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
11 December 1971

I wonder how many Rhodesian man hours are wasted each year holding on to telephones while people look for pencils?

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
10 December 1971

“A different cause,” says Parson Sly,
“The same effect may give:
Poor Lubin fears that he may die;
His wife that he may live”.

(Matthew Prior)

John Lentell
Rhodesia Herald
9 December 1971

When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.

Thomas Paine, Common Sense

John Lentell
8 December 1971