George Gissing Quotes
I hate with a bitter hatred the names of lentils haricots - those pretentious cheats of the appetite, those tabulated humbugs, those certified aridites calling themselves human food!
Gissing, George. The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft. Archibald Constable, 1903, p. 242.
In that era votes were taken be legislators dropping dried beans in different jars. The Ancient Greek word for “beans” was metaphorical for “politics.” Pythagoras advised the students at his academy and all others of means to avoid politics. He was concerned that politics would distract a person from more important activities such as philosophy, mathematics and science. Worse that the hypocrisy and compromises made in politics would corrupt honest, rational thinking.
George Robert Gissing was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. His best-known novels, which have reappeared in modern editions, include The Nether World (1889), New Grub Street (1891) and The Odd Women (1893).