September 15, 2025

It may be that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong—but that is the way to bet.

Damon Runyon (1880–1946), American journalist and short-story writer, The Portable Curmudgeon, Jon Winokur, ed. (New York: 1987), p.32

Surely you have heard of the Greeks at Thermopylae (480 BCE), or at least the tortoise and the hare?

Swift and strong are always impressive, especially at the Olympics, but it is a majority that counts in politics (absenting American supermajorities and the “filibuster”).