Last week, John F. Harris of the Washington Post reported that there were White House talking points for staff who were being asked how they felt about Clinton's confession of sex with Monica. According to the script, the approved spin was that the president should be forgiven. Indeed, someone had even come up with what sounded like a fortune-cookie quote: "He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself."
THE SCRAPBOOK wondered if this was a quote left over from research for all those "bridge to the 21st century" speeches Clinton used to give, or merely the first entry under forgiveness in Bartlett's Quotations. But Bartlett's turns out to be unhelpful. A Nexis search reveals that, if Dear Abby can be believed, 17th-century English clergyman Thomas Fuller is the author. Forbes once attributed it, on the other hand, to Fuller's contemporary George Herbert. THE SCRAPBOOK hopes the source is Fuller, since he is the author of, among many other undoubtedly fine works, a 1642 treatise called -- no kidding -- Book of Monica. THE SCRAPBOOK is now off to the library to look for a copy and will report back next week on its findings. Meanwhile recognition will be bestowed on the first reader who can authoritatively source the broken bridge quote. An even greater reward is in store for any reader who happens to have Fuller's Book of Monica in his personal library and would care to lend it to SCRAPBOOK, 1150 17th St., NW, Suite 505, Washington, DC 20036.