William Schwenck Gilbert

The Philosophic Pill

I’ve wisdom from the East and from the West,
	That’s subject to no academic rule:
You may find it in the jeering of a jest,
	Or distil it from the folly of a fool.
I can teach you with a quip, if I’ve a mind!
	I can trick you into learning with a laugh;
Oh, winnow all my folly, and you’ll find
	A grain or two of truth among the chaff!

I can set a braggart quailing with a quip,
	The upstart I can wither with a whim;
He may wear a merry laugh upon his lip,
	But his laughter has an echo that is grim.
When they’re offered to the world in merry guise,
	Unpleasant truths are swallowed with a will—
For he who’d make his fellow creatures wise
	Should always gild the philosophic pill!