“men talk of money and industry
of hard times and recoveries
of finance and economics
but the ants wait and the scorpions wait
for while men talk they are making deserts all the time
getting the world ready for the conquering ant
drought and erosion and desert
because men cannot learn”

archy and mehitabel (1927), what the ants are saying

"To speak about the soul"

Bengt de Törne Sibelius: A Close-Up (London: Faber and Faber, 1937), p. 94.
Usually quoted as "Musicians talk of nothing but money and jobs. Give me businessmen every time. They really are interested in music and art."

Variant: Old men only lie in wait for people to ask them to talk. Then they rattle on like a rusty elevator wheezing up a shaft.
Source: Dandelion Wine (1957), p. 81

From Her Tours and CDs, I'm The One That I Want Tour

The Gods of Pegāna, Of how Imbaun Became High Prophet in Aradec of All the Gods save One

King's Crossing.
Lyrics, From a Basement on the Hill (posthumous, 2004)

Source: The English Patient