> is a perfect, natural analogy. Why can I never come up with such beautiful explanations? Good writers borrow: great writers steal. It would be nice to come

> is a perfect, natural analogy. Why can I never come up with such beautiful explanations? Good writers borrow: great writers steal. It would be nice to come up with the right analogy from whole cloth, but especially in non-fiction writing it's almost as good to recognize a great analogy or turn of phrase, store it away in your mind, and reproduce it (rewritten in the house style, perhaps) when you need the mot juste for your own readers. I've heard the analogy before, and I suspect the writer or editor of the Economist had too.