“When all candles be out, all cats be grey.” — John Heywood
(I have to admit that I don’t believe I have ever heard this quote before! As a result, I thought the last word was prey! And, I thought: What a stupid quote! Cats are predators, and especially at night, so why would they be prey when the candles go out??? It wasn’t until I Googled the first part of the quote that I saw my error. But, now I get it. Apparently, Ben Franklin shortened the phrase to All cats are grey in the dark, explaining why to take an older woman to bed! Today the #MeToo movement would be all over his ass for saying that. Maybe they’ll start tearing down Ben’s statues, like they have with some Confederate General/soldier statues. Trying to insert today’s moralities/ethics/sensitivities to earlier ages is a fool’s errand, folks. At least as far as tearing things down goes. Oh, yeah. We welcome John Heywood to the Cryptoquote Club today! Be well and do good, friends.) — YUR
Image courtesy of Google
Unclerave's Wordy Weblog 
For clarification, 😁, the me too movement are not the people tearing down statues. Yes, older, more plain women like me also think going to bed in the dark is better. Then we don’t have to behold the short-lived disaster who cares not with whom he beds. There are no statues for those losers among us. Why on earth some of these men think women, in general, are starving for them is a question I cannot answer.
The more I think of it, the more I would like to take old Ben out to fly kites again. Arrogant little short man he was.
Anyway, I know of no me too group tearing down statues. I am, in fact, against tearing down monuments of our history. I think the idea of using todays context as a blame game for our founding is a big mistake.
Native Americans use oral history from generation to the next. It is intact and young ones appreciate history because it is about them. Too bad our revisionists don’t see history as being about them.
I recall reading a few years ago that Benjamin Franklin was a bit of a cad and womanizer. I didn’t hear any of that in grade school.
Old Ben must have been flying more than his kite !
Nancy, I’m so glad that you are against tearing down monuments, and you’re no fan of the retroactive blame game. And, I also appreciate the Native Americans’ handed down, oral history. It actually is why a more honest revision of history took place. Older history books used to portray the Native Americans always as the aggressors, and the settlers as peaceful, and just too little truth about the way Native Americans were actually treated. So, there are some instances where revisionism is a positive thing.
But, I wasn’t implying that #MeToo people had torn down any statues. I was using the broader “they” for the folks who had already torn down the Confederate statues over the last few years. Ben was definitely a cad by today’s standards, but I don’t hold anybody’s personal faults against their accomplishments. Especially when, at the time that they lived, they – er, the faults – were not considered faults, but often as strong points.
And, I guess we all gotta do what we gotta do . . . when the lights go out. 🙂
— YUR
A two line Cryptoquote, unbelievable. I’m guessing we’re getting our new quotes off Pinterest now.
I don’t think they’re all that rare, Ben. — YUR