Erma Bombeck on Halloween

Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.

One thing they never tell you about child raising is that for the rest of your life, at the drop of a hat, you are expected to know your child’s name and how old he or she is.

There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.

William Shakespeare1564–1616Macbeth (1605), Witches, Scene IIn context

Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

William Shakespeare1564–1616Macbeth (1623), In: Medical Arena, Volumes 7-8, 1898, p. 122In context

There is nothing funny about Halloween. This sarcastic festival reflects, rather, an infernal demand for revenge by children on the adult world.

Jean Baudrillard1929–2007“Astral America” (p. 48)