THE UNCONVENTIONALSPEECHES OF A . S . SCHEIBER * 352 he was able to remain active and productive, even in old age, as he put it, “je n’ai pas de vie intérieure . ” This was not at all the case with Alexander Scheiber . Discipline and moderation, without suppressed emotions, kept him from performing continuous self - analysis . On those very rare occasions when he did open up and strike a personal note in a speech, he did it so matter - of - factly, so bluntly, in fact, that the effect is startling . The brief speech delivered on his seventieth birthday, perhaps the most stirring account of his life, was uncomfortably frank, and in a way inappropriate for the occasion . The opening sentence is somber enough : “If a seventieth birthday is the beginning of old age, I have nothing to be happy about . ” Then, in an abrupt shift, he said about his beloved mother : “She embittered my childhood and youth by loving my younger brother more than she loved me . ” He mercilessly underrated and bel...
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