Let's Drink to Character!

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in A New Kind of Love

Caveat Emptor.

A scorpion wanted to cross a river, so he asked a frog to carry him. 'No,' said the frog. 'No thank you. If I let you on my back you may sting me, and the sting of the scorpion means death.' 'Now where,' asked the scorpion, 'is the logic of that? NO scorpion could be judged illogical! If I sting you, you will die - I will drown.' The frog was convinced and allowed the scorpion on his back, but just in the middle of the river he felt a terrible pain and realized that after all the scorpion had stung him. 'Logic!' cried the dying frog, as he started under, bearing the scorpion down with him. 'There is no logic in this!' 'I know,' said the scorpion, 'but I can't help it - it's my character.'

Caveat Emperor.

"Though at first considered an apt successor to the throne, Emperor Taisho (Great Righteousness) suffered a brain thrombosis in 1919 which left him extremely eccentric. A widely circulated story tells of one occasions when, while addressing the Diet, the Emperor rolled up the script for his speech, and holding it like a telescope, peered long and hard at the assembled dignitaries."

Arthur Murray Whitehill, "Japanese Management: Tradition and Transition"

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