Dorothy Scarborough

“ IS there anything more entertaining than human ignorance and the reticence with which it seeks to conceal itself? Ignorance, wide-spread as it is, everywhere makes evasion or denial of its existence. Why should man be mortified over a universal attribute, or arrogate to himself an omniscience obviously impossible? Yet the effort to deny ignorance is directly in proportion to the extent to which it is present. ”

“ A child asks questions less as if seeking information than as delighting to uncover the ignorance of his victim. His manner shows the candid craft of the oral examiner who propounds unanswerable queries to the candidate, queries which would make uncomfortable boomerangs if turned back toward him. ”

“ As I realized that I hadn't always done that in the teaching of English, I acquiesced in the arrangement, and only the jangle of the alarm-clock saved those violin pupils from being victimized.
Mountain-bred persons are peculiarly sensitive to any imputation of lack of information. When fronted with a fact for the first time, a mountaineer will insist on previous acquaintance, no matter what the topic. ”