(with crushing magnanimity) My friend; I am an exception to all rules. It is true that I have the honor to be a Jew; and, when the Zionists need a leader to reassemble our race on its historic soil of Palestine, Mendoza will not be the last to volunteer (sympathetic applause--hear, hear, etc.). But I am not a slave to any superstition. I have swallowed all the formulas, even that of Socialism; though, in a sense, once a Socialist, always a Socialist. (THE SOCIAL-DEMOCRATS: Hear, hear!) But I am well aware that the ordinary man--even the ordinary brigand, who can scarcely be called an ordinary man (Hear, hear!) --is not a philosopher. Common sense is good enough for him; and in our business affairs common sense is good enough for me. Well, what is our business here in the Sierra Nevada, chosen by the Moors as the fairest spot in Spain? Is it to discuss abstruse questions of political economy? No: it is to hold up motor cars and secure a more equitable distribution of wealth. (THE SULKY SOCIAL-DEMOCRAT: All made by labor, mind you.) (urbanely) Undoubtedly. All made by labor, and on its way to be squandered by wealthy vagabonds in the dens of vice that disfigure the sunny shores of the Mediterranean. We intercept that wealth. We restore it to circulation among the class that produced it and that chiefly needs it--the working class. We do this at the risk of our lives and liberties, by the exercise of the virtues of courage, endurance, foresight, and abstinence--especially abstinence. I myself have eaten nothing but prickly pears and broiled rabbit for three days.

Mendoza Monologue from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy

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