A story with a moral appended is like the bill of a mosquito. It bores you, and then injects a stinging drop to irritate your conscience. (O. Henry)

A story with a moral appended is like the bill of a mosquito. It bores you, and then injects a stinging drop to irritate your conscience.

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bill conscience drop irritate moral mosquito stinging story

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I must have told my story ill if to every physician who hears me its illustrations have not the invigorating force of moral tonics.

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I never fixed a story. I didn't make judgments, I let the listener make judgments. When I got to the end of the story, if it had a moral, I let the listener find it.

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