““After all, Christmastide is the time of year for warming brandies, for assertive burgundies and meaty Medoc wines, and for gladsome whiskies. And an Islay malt: well, this is the octave of St Andrew, and you will doubtless recall that he is not only the patron saint of Alba, of Scotland, but was also a fisherman. How better to toast my favorite apostle (he being all the things I personally am not, starting with humble and self-effacing) than with the sea-salty dram of an Islay whisky?””
![“... in 1912, although he, more even than other members of the Senate and the House, thought himself presidential timber (a delusion from which vanishingly few senators and representatives are wholly free when they gaze enraptured into their mirrors of a morning), Senator [William Alden] Smith…” quote by Markham Shaw Pyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d6b/markham-shaw-pyle-22408_congress_in-1912-although-he-more-even-than-other_191616.jpg)
![“Show me you care about our common tongue. Bring to your [writing] passion, deeply informed by knowledge of your subject. Stay me, not with apples and flagons, but with wit and grace, humor and intense caring about your discipline. Don't slack, don't give it a lick and a promise, don't make it…” quote by Markham Shaw Pyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9ec/markham-shaw-pyle-22408_authors_show-me-you-care-about-our-common-tongue_515202.jpg)
