The Pattern Still Remains

1. If you found a pocketbook with $1,000, would you give it to the owner if no one would ever know you found it?
2. If you could advance yourself by unfair methods, would you do it if no one would ever find out you were unfair?
3. If the bus driver failed to collect your fare, would you voluntarily pay it?
4. If there were no locks on any house, store, or bank, would you take anything if no one would ever find out?
5. If your business partner died, would you pay his relatives their fair share, if you did not have to pay them?
6. If you are an employer trying to hire an efficient, honest and competent employee, would you hire yourself at your salary?
7. If you are an employer, would you like to be working for yourself with the wages, hours, and working conditions you provide?
8. If you are a parent, would you like to be the child of the parent just like you are?
9. If you had your choice, would you like to live in a community with people working in church, civic and community affairs just like you do?
10. If you had to live with someone just like you are for the rest of your life, would you look forward to it as a wonderful opportunity and privilege?

Herbert V. Prochnow. The Toastmaster’s Treasure Chest by Herbert V. Prochonow, 1979.

When Louisiana became a state, bilingual ten-dollar bills were printed with dix (ten in French) on one side. These bills were called dixies, and the term originally applied to New Orleans. 

The Quintessential Quiz Book by Norman G. Hickman, 1979.

A school for pickpockets. Its curriculum involves a mannequin with ten pockets in its clothing, on each of which as bell has been sewn. To graduate, the student must pick every pocket without ringing a bell.

The Quintessential Quiz Book by Norman G. Hickman, 1979.

Aristotle talked of his ten categories (or predicaments or classifications), the meaning of which has fired philosophers from then to now:

1. Substance or Being
2. Quantity
3. Quality
4. Relation
5. Place
6. Time
7. Posture
8. Having or Possession
9. Action
10. Passion

More About Words by Margaret S. Ernst, 1951.

According to James Freeman Clarke, the Ten Great Religions of the world are:

1. The Confucian religion of China, founded by Confucius (BC 551-478)
2. Brahmanism of India
3. Buddhism, a revolt from Brahmanism, in Eastern Asia, founded by Sakya-muni (who died 543 B.C.)
4. The Magian Religan of Persia, founded by Zoroaster.
5. The religion of Egypt
6. The mythology of the Greeks and Romans
7. The Scandinavian Mythology
8. The Jewish Religion, founded by Abraham
9. The Islam Religion, founded by Mohammed.
10. Christianity.

Curious Questions by Sara H. Killikelly, 1889.

According to the Moslem’s creed, ten animals besides man are admitted into paradise:

1. The dog Kratim, of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus
2. Balaam’s ass, which reproached the disobedient prophet
3. Solomon’s ant, which reproves the sluggard
4. Jonah’s whale
5. The ram of Ishmael, caught by the horns and offered in sacrifice instead of Isaac
6. The ass on which the Queen of Sheba rode when she visited Solomon
7. The camel of Saleb
8. The cuckoo of Belkis
9. The ox of Moses
10. The animal called Al-Borak, which conveyed Mahomet to Heaven. Al-Borak is Arabic for lightning.

Curious Questions by Sara H. Killikelly, 1889.

The consort of Siva, represented as having ten arms.

A Dictionary of the Noted Names in Fiction by William A. Wheeler, 1865.

The human voice has been heard across the Straits of Gibraltar, a distance of more than ten miles. This, however, is quite uncommon, and only occurs in peculiar states of the weather.

The Corner Cupboard of Facts for Everybody by Robert Kemp Philip, 1859.

1. Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself
3. Never spend your money before you have it
4. Never buy what you do not want because it’s cheap
5. Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold
6. We seldom repent of having eaten too little
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly
8. How much pain the evils have cost us that have never happened
9. Take things always by the smooth handle.
10. When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very, count a hundred.

The Corner Cupboard of Facts for Everybody by Robert Kemp Philip, 1859.

1. 4,860,000 miles:  Genghis Khan 
2. 2,180,000 miles:  Alexander the Great 
3. 2,145,000 miles:  Tamerlane  
4. 2,090,000 miles:  Cyrus the Great
5. 1,450,000 miles:  Attila
6. 1,370,000 miles:  Adolph Hitler
7.    720,000 miles:  Napoleon Bonaparte
8.    680,000 miles:  Mahmud of Ghazni
9.    480,000 miles:  Francisco Pizarro
10.    315,000 miles:  Hernando Cortes

The Book of Lists 2 by Irving Wallace, 1980.

These letters are placed on barrels of beer and ale to denote the strength of the  liquor. The single X originally represented the excise tax of ten shillings paid on beer of a certain quality, and thus became a sign for that quality.

5000 Facts and Fancies by William Henry P. Phyfe, 1901.

1. Honeysuckle
2. Fresh Strawberries
3. Red Rose
4. New Dawn Rose
5. Wild Rose
6. Emily Gray Rose
7. Sweet Pea
8. Stock
9. Orange Blossoms
10. Meadowsweet

From a 1966 study in The Book of Lists, 1977.

1. Gottfried von Leibnitz
2. David Hume
3. Casanova
4. August Strindberg
5. Pope Pius XI
6. Sam Walter Foss
7. Archibald MacLeish
8. Mao Tse-Tung
9. J. Edgar Hoover
10. John Braine

From The Book of Lists, 1977.

1. The Ghost of Anne Boleyn
2. The Ghost of Catherine Howard
3. The Vermilion Phantom
4. The Flying Dutchman
5. The Epworth Poltergeist
6. The Drury Lane Theatre Ghost
7. The Ghost of Charles Rosmer
8. The Angels of Mons
9. The Borley Ghost
10. The White House Ghost

From The Book of Lists,  1977.

• Asparagus
• Caviar
• Eel
• Garlic
• Ginseng
• Honey
• Lobster
• Oysters
• Peaches
• Truffles

From The Book of Lists, 1977.