"The Debt to Pleasure"

[fiefoe]

Nothing focuses the mind better than 'no renewal allowed'.

Lest Tarquin's quiddity is in doubt:
__ Eleanor brought with her as her dowry the lands of Poitou, the Saintorge, Limousin, and Gascony, which puts into perspective the modest estate I inherited on the death of my parents.
__ I make these points, as usual with an attractive air of qualified omniscience...

More interesting things put forth:

• The French holds the European palm for noisiest schoolchildren.
• Remember that for the Romans, a barbarian was someone who wore trousers, had a beard, and ate butter.
  
• Who can resist the eudaemonic combination of meteorology and gastronomy represented by a cold lunch on a hot day?
• unthinkable (a word which is in itself, self-refuting)
  
• Mere adequacy is never adequate.
• The Inca's basic unit of time was predicated on how long it took to cook a potato.
• I learned all I needed to know about the rules of proportion from the dry martini. The law is: main ingredient (gin), subordinate ingredient (vermouth), and grace note (lemon twist, olive).
• French cooking .. at the highest level .. primarily consists of (excesses). These dishes are the product of febrile imaginations in big white hats.
• (The idea of interest) is such a secular category of mental activity. Pascal's 'interest' in roulette was a terrifying confrontation with.. God. You would no more ask him if it was 'interesting' than you would ask... a ballet dancer at the apogee of his leap whether he is 'interested' in gravity.
  

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Found: a roadside memorial consisting of two green trucks side by side, both immaculate, long-bodied, with curlicued decorations in front.