I've wisdom from the East and from the West, <br />That's subject to no academic rule; <br />You may find it in the jeering of a jest, <br />Or distill it from the folly of a fool. <br />I can teach you with a quip, if I've a mind; <br />I can trick you into learning with a laugh; <br />Oh, winnow all my folly, and you'll find <br />A grain or two of truth among the chaff! <br /> <br />I can set a braggart quailing with a quip, <br />The upstart I can wither with a whim; <br />He may wear a merry laugh upon his lip, <br />But his laughter has an echo that is grim. <br />When they've offered to the world in merry guise, <br />Unpleasant truths are swallowed with a will - <br />For he who'd make his fellow-creatures wise <br />Should always gild the philosophic pill!<br /><br />William Schwenck Gilbert<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-philosophic-pill/
