Thanks to Nigel Rees, of Radio 4's Quote Unquote for clearing up the source of one of my favourite chess sayings by directing me to a discussion at https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/sources.html. The epigram as published by Irving Chernev in The Bright Side of Chess is "Lasker's style is like clear limpid water - with a drop of poison in it!". I had thought that the subject of the quip was Akiba Rubinstein, one of the great might-have-beens of chess, but I can quite see how it fitted the style of Emanuel Lasker. Finally, Edward Winter nails the original author as Jacques Mieses, one of the first grandmasters, a naturalised Briton and a wit. For the record, the German original is "Laskers Stil ist klares Wasser mit einem Tropfen Gift darin, der es opalisieren lässt."
One could apply the same epigram to certain authors, with or without the "opalising" bit. Christopher Isherwood and Franz Kafka come to mind.
Mr Rees was unable (yet?) to help with another quotation which has been gnawing at me. I have a dim recollection of a distinguished actuary at some function defining his profession as metaphorically waiting until the battle is over, then coming down from the hills to bayonet the wounded. If any accountant or auditor is reading this, could they help provide a source?
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