A friend has drawn my attention to an interview with Angela Merkel quoted in The Economist (I wouldn't like it thought I subscribed to that all-the-answers journal), suggesting that she and I have something in common. He might have been referring to the fact that I 'don't do dinner parties' either (I suspect rather more thoroughly than AM doesn't) but in fact he was referrring to our joint acquaintance with the Book of Proverbs.
Mrs Merkel quotes Proverbs 16.18: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
The Greeks might prefer 21.9: "It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house."
The banker might take refuge in 12.9: "He that is despised, and hath a servant, is better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread."
The blogger might opt for 8.34: "Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors." I suspect Google must have infiltrated that into the text, but all bloggers will be anxious at Proverbs' constant denunciation of the 'froward' man.
So let us rest with 21.16: "The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead."
