When teeth became touched with decay or were otherwise ailing, the doctor knew
of but one thing to do--he fetched his tongs and dragged them out. If the jaw
remained, it was not his fault.
- Mark Twain's Autobiography
Most cursed of all are the dentists who made too many parenthetical remarks--dentists
who secure your instant and breathless interest in a tooth by taking a grip
on it, and then stand there and drawl through a tedious anecdote before they
give the dreaded jerk. Parentheses in literature and dentistry are in bad taste.
- A Tramp Abroad, Appendix D, "The Awful German Language"
All dentists talk while they work. They have inherited this from their professional
ancestors, the barbers.
- "Down the Rhone," Europe and Elsewhere
See also Pain vs Pleasure
Quotations | Newspaper Articles | Special Features | Links | Search