Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 July 5

= July 5 =

modest vice
A garbled phrase swam into my mind: "I too have [drunk whisky] from time to time, and yet the number of my [murders] is minor." The bracketed words are placeholders for the part that I don't remember; the gist is a wisecrack response to assertions that vice leads inevitably to shame and crime. Does it ring a bell? Possibly the original was in French? —Tamfang (talk) 08:54, 5 July 2014 (UTC)
 * The sentiment is reminiscent of songs such as "Non, je ne regrette rien" (Piaf) and "My Way" (Sinatra) but the wisecrack tone might also have come from americans Mark Twain, Walt Whitman or W. C. Fields. 84.209.89.214 (talk) 10:37, 5 July 2014 (UTC)