"You're not one of them"

"Well... look, Eric, it's like this... There are some people in life who are interesting people. You know, they're good company, fun to be with. The kind of people who, when you meet them on the street, your heart lifts and you say to yourself, 'Ah! There's old So-and-So! Isn't it grand to see him!' People who make you happy! People who make you feel that life's worth living! But... you're not one of them."

-- From "The Testing of Eric Olthwaite," by Terry Jones and Michael Palin

(Ripping Yarns was a brilliant series of teleplays spoofing adventure novels and other forms of uplifting early 20th century schoolboy literature, written by Monty Python alumni Michael Palin and Terry Jones, and starring Palin -- usually in multiple roles per episode. "The Testing of Eric Olthwaite," how the dullest young man in the village was transformed into the most popular and celebrated, without actually changing in any way, may be the most brilliant episode of the series.)

(There's an Eric Olthwaite blog, which has nothing to do with this episode, but is about pubs and real ale in Britain, and is therefore much more interesting than Eric.)