Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2005-06-29:

"To one I owe a debt the size of a small Latin American republic's in analysts' fees saved and sorrows unsuffered during the next thirty-odd years. Her name was Angèle. She said: 'Tu n'es pas beau, mais t'es passable.' ['You're not handsome, but you're passable.']

"My brain reeled under the munificence of her compliment. If she had said I was handsome I wouldn't have believed her. If she had called me loathsome I wouldn't have liked it. Passable was what I hoped for. Passable is the best thing for a man to be."

-- A. J. Liebling, journalist, recalling his relationship with a "sporting girl" of the Boulevard Saint-Michel in Paris in 1927.

(submitted to the mailing list by Mike Krawchuk)