How eager, how restless, how importunate, we all are to hear that new thing that does not at all concern us; or only concerns us to our loss and our shame.

And the more forbidden that secret is to us, and the more full of inward evil to us--insane sinners that we are--the more determined we are to get at it.
Let any forbidden secret be in the keeping of some one within earshot of us and we will give him no rest till he has shared the evil thing with us.

Let any specially evil page be published in a newspaper, and we will take good care that that day's paper is not thrown into the waste-basket; we will hide it away, like a dog with a stolen bone, till we are able to dig it up and chew it dry in secret.

The devil has no need to blockade or besiege the gate of our ear if he has any of his good things to offer us.

The gate that can only be opened from within will open at once of itself if he or any of his newsmongers but squat down for a moment before it.