"I was not quoting the Bible. I have never even read the Bible."

"Why don't you ask God to bless him while you're at it?"

"Listen, don't you think I know that your doctrine of cosmic mental
states is just a front and that you're a closet monotheist?"

"And may I remind you that slander is an offense punishable by law?"

"And is this the state of a wise man?" asked the beard, looking at
the sky, "to threaten his friend for speaking truth?"

"Now he's even praying! I can't believe this!"

"'We cannot see around corners,' says Germulphius, 'so what is left
to the man who refuses to see in a straight line?'"

"Someone like your wife," answered the glasses. "No doubt by now
she's found twelve more insupportably ridiculous assertions in your
paper on aperceptual phenomenalism."

"Well, at least my wife reads my papers. At least my wife can read."

"My wife is an avid reader of literature."

"Since when did the television listings become 'literature'? That's
the most transparent semantic ploy I have ever heard."

"Are you accusing me of owning a television?"

"He who can see the maggots need not ask if the dog is dead."

"'Ignore the shadow cast by a passing vapor,' says Phonetes."

"You've always been sloppy with bibliography, haven't you?" demanded
the beard. "Phonetes would have been utterly embarrassed to have
said that."

"No matter. Truth needs no ascription."

"That statement is obviously the product of extensive reading and
protracted thought. With a little more effort, no doubt you'll be
able to announce that the sun shines on a clear day."

"I suppose you have never read von Hoch: 'I had always known what he
said, but I did not live it until I heard it spoken.'"

"I reject that statement together with its sordid implications. It
smacks of the grimy hands of utilitarianism. In a minute you'll be
insisting that philosophy have practical consequences for berry
pickers and children. Perhaps you would be happier as some sort of
mechanic where you could get your hands on things, rather than as one
who pretends to instruct youth."

"You and Sir Peter Poole, who was proud that he couldn't tell a hoe
from a rake."

"Well, what of that? My profession is philosophy, and I look for truth,
not for mud."

"Even the sun cannot be seen through a silver coin."

"I have never accepted money for anything I've published," said the
beard hotly.

"'Beware of those who look to the right and walk