Until a friend or relative has applied a particular proverb to your own life, or until you've watched him apply the proverb to his own life, it has no power to sway you.
Source: U. And I: A True Story, ch. 4 (1991).
-- Nicholson Baker, (Jan 7 1957-____), US novelist, writer; His fiction works include A Box of Matches, and Room Temperature.