"Why read at all?"
But mollified by my confusion, he added in ringing tones:
"Have you read Ecclesiastes?"
"Yes."
"Read Ecclesiastes. You need nothing more. There is all the wisdom of the world, only there are sheep who do not understand it; that is to say, no one understands it. Can you sing at all?"
"No."
"Why? You ought to sing. It is the most ridiculous way of passing time."
Some one asked him from an adjacent table:
"But you sing yourself?"
"Yes; but I am a vagrant. Well?"