Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved. - Mark Twain

Belgium's royal palace is still what it has been for the last 14 years: a lair of a wild beast that for its money every year mutilates, murders and starves a half million helpless natives in the Congo Free State.

The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it.

إذا أشبعت كلباً جائعاً فإنه لَن يعضك .. ذلك هو الفرق بينه وبين الإنسان!