I have been advised not even to try to discuss animal immortality, "lest
I be placed in the company of all the old maids."  I do not object to the
company.  I consider neither virginity nor old age to be contemptible.
Some of the shrewdest minds I have ever encountered inhabited the bodies
of "old maids."  And as to such jocular questions as "Where will God find
enough room for all the mosquitoes?" I can answer them on their own level
by observing that, if worst came to worst, a heaven for mosquitoes and a
hell for humans could very conveniently be combined.

17 responses total.

Hint:  Dead white male.

Mark Twain?

After I entered this item, I read it as a "standalone" quote and
my first thought was "Mark Twain."  Good guess, mythago, but no.

bernard shaw.

Another excellent guess, but no cigar.

keats, how *could* you guess without giving reasons?
My turn: C. S. Lewis. <ha>

(i'm writing so much about john milton these past few days that my loquacity
on other writers is ebbing a bit...)

C.S. Lewis it is.  I'm impressed.

well, that actually makes quite a bit of sense. the writing and subject 
matter are characteristic of ol' c.s.

jeepers. how dare you, md?

(insert ascii thing here)

How dare I what?  What ascii thing?  What's going on here?!

I'm confident that the ascii thing is a silly sideways smiley of some sort.
What's to dare?  I was being somewhat ironic ... not really serious; there's
some discussion of the topic in _The Problem of Pain_, but this quote didn't
accord with my memory (that is, I remember some comments but not this quote),
so I didn't even go into the house & find the book to check.  This time it's
not even an educated guess; md, hold your impressions until I get a chance
to earn them.  But thanks for the fun; I wish I *could* take the credit for
it.  Hmm.  This makes me think of entering one of my own, & I think I will.

Congrats, Dave. I *knew* I had read that mosquito heaven line, but had
no idea where. 

Michael, it does *not* appear to be from _The Problem of Pain_ (quick scan
of chapter on animal pain, where topic is touched on), nor from a response
to Joad's attack on that (in _God in the Dock_), so I'm really curious about
the actual reference.  It's not from his letters somewhere, is it?

I have to admit that I quoted it from memory from the chapter on
Animal Pain in _The Problem of Pain_.  But I'd be very surprised
to learn that my recollection was so far off that you couldn't
even find anything that looked like it.  grep "old maids" as you
scan the chapter and you'll find it.

(how dare you give a quote that might reasonably be ascribed to the author?)

(and yup, i was just joking. it was a fun quote. thanks.)

You're welcome.  By the way, if I did mangle the passage, it's
all the more impressive (that word again) that davel got both
the author and the work.  [md shakes his gray head in awe]

That's what I *did*.  That is, I don't have it except print & memory, & "old
maids" was what I scanned for last night.  Sigh.

Yes, a good quote.  Thank you.

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