All womankind, from the highest to the lowest love jokes; the difficulty is to know how they choose to have them cut; and there is no knowing that, b… - Laurence Sterne

Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world, — though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst, — the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!

A white bear! Very well. Have I ever seen one? Might I ever have seen one? Am I ever to have seen one?
Ought I ever to have seen one? Or can I ever see one?

Would I have seen a white bear! (for how can I imagine it?)

If I should see a white bear, what should I say?
If I should never see a white bear, what then?

If I never have, can, must, or shall see a white bear alive; have I ever seen the skin of one?
Did I ever see one painted? -Described?

Have I never dreamed of one?

Did my father, mother, uncle, aunt, brothers or sisters, ever see a white bear?
What would they give?
How would they behave?
How would the white bear have behaved?

Is he wild? Tame? Terrible? Rough? Smooth?

- Is the white bear worth seeing? -

- Is there no sin in it? -

Is it better than a Black One?

Tant pis and tant mieux, being two of the great hinges in French conversation, a stranger would do well to set himself right in the use of them before he gets to Paris.