TALMUD QUOTATION? In a ceremony honoring Paul Wolfowitz as he left the Pentagon to become president of the World Bank, Donald Rumsfeld is reported by the A.P. to have said the following:

"The threatened, the oppressed and the persecuted around the world must know in their hearts that they had a friend in Paul Wolfowitz," Rumsfeld said. "You are one of those rare people who, as the Talmud puts it, would rather light candles than curse the darkness."

Is this really in the Talmud? According to this Phrase Finder webside, it's an old Chinese proverb. The entry notes a use by Adlai Stevenson in 1962, with reference to Eleanor Roosevelt. The first time I recall seeing it was in a Peanuts cartoon featuring Linus walking around outside at night with a candle and Lucy standing there shouting "You stupid darkness!"