Background Image

...

The Aim Of Literary Ambition Is To Demonstrate One's Greatness Of Soul.

-Mason Cooley

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

The Aim Of Literary

Mason Cooley

...

The Aim Of Literary Ambition Is To Demonstrate One's Greatness Of Soul.

Views: 6

Topic

More From Mason Cooley

Life Is The Risk We Cannot Refuse.

Fear Regulates. Appetite Impels.

Nothing Easier Than To Confuse Busyness With Goodness.

Arrogance Frowns; Pride Smiles.

A Sentimental Aphorism Is Even More A Surprise Than A Hard- Boiled Sonnet.

Even A Cow Creates Ambiguous Signifiers. The Moo Of Mystery.

When I Prayed For Success, I Forgot To Ask For Sound Sleep And Good Digestion.

Guilt Agonizes Over Trifles, Ignores Habitual Wrongdoing.

Understanding Replaces Imaginary Fears With Real Ones.

The Interest In Wisdom Is Fading. Soon There Will Not Be Enough Left To Support The Aphorism, Even Though It Tries To Amuse By Half-mocking The Wisdom It Propounds.

Change Often Makes Accepted Customs Into Crimes.

Complainers Detest Each Other.

Everyone Makes Sexy Sounds; Relatively Few, Sexy Sights.

People Often Imagine That Being Hard To Please Confers A Certain Superiority.

Carnal Knowledge Is As Forgettable As The Other Kinds.

Carnal Knowledge

To Learn A Vocation, You Also Have To Learn The Frauds It Practices And The Promises It Breaks.

Silence Kills Scandal.

In Bridge Clubs And In Councils Of State, The Passions Are The Same.

Children Must Be Protected Not Because They Are Innocent But Because They Are Powerless.

Work Saves Us From Melancholy. Pleasure Exposes Us To It.

Everyone Knows That (1) Happiness Is The Goal Of Life, And (2) Happiness Is A Chimera.

We May Eat Dinner Together, But Everyone Puts The Food In His Own Mouth.

My Taking A Seat On The Council Of The Fathers Caused A Desperate Fluttering Among My Ghosts.

Either Offer Me Something I Really Like, Or Stop Trying To Tempt Me.

I Dream Of Vague Shapes That Hint Of My Heart's Desire.

New York Is Full Of Abandoned Churches. A Godless City, But Full Of Superstitions On Every Subject--art, Money, Sex, Food, Health.

We Often Mistake The Original Part Of Ourselves For A Weakness.

Helplessness Is A Mighty Power.

Psychology Keeps Trying To Vindicate Human Nature. History Keeps Undermining The Effort.

Successful Innovations Become Conventions.

Shameless: Punish Me For My Desire If You Will. It Burns Still.

Beggars Market Their Incapacity.

Romantics Consider Common Sense Vulgar.

Altruism Is For Those Who Cannot Endure Their Desires.

Suspicion Is The Beginning Of Wisdom, And Of Madness.

Realism Absorbs The Ideal By Adding A Few Small Imperfections. Example: It Paints A Few Specks Of Mud On The White Gown Of The Lady In The Garden.

It's No Good Being Exclusive If Nobody Wants In.

Great Talkers Do Not Stop For Breath, And Never Look At The Clock.

People Are Reluctant To Cite Boredom As Grounds For Divorce.

Constant Talkers Are Unheard.

Philosophy Likes To Keen Common Sense On The Run.

Looking Backward At What Has Been Lost, I Feel Sad, Then Indifferent, And At Last Relieved.

The Grand Style Is Available Now Only In Old Poems, Museums, And Parodies.

The Ninety Percent Of Human Experience That Does Not Fit Into Established Narrative Patterns Falls Into Oblivion.

Poor But Happy Is Not A Phrase Invented By A Poor Person.

The Unknowable Creates The Greatest Controversies.

If I Can't Serve As A Role Model, Let Me Serve As A Warning.

Dutch Painting: Daily Life Is Enough.

The Question You're Not Supposed To Ask Is The Important One.

Lead The Reader Toward The Thought, Then Stop A Little Short.

The Nonsense That Charms Is Close To Sense.

Like A Frog, The Aphorist Waits For Something To Fly By That He Can Catch With His Tongue.

History Goes Out Of Control Almost As Often As Nature Does.

Laughter Scares Off Lust.

Hypocrisy Is The Outside Of Cynicism.

Fears And Lies Intensify Consciousness.

I Am The Center Of The World, But The Control Panel Seems To Be Somewhere Else.

Wit Saves Us From Being Swallowed Whole By Life.

Sometimes I Discover I Have Changed My Mind Because I Have Forgotten What I Used To Think.

'be Faithful To Your Roots' Is The Liberal Version Of 'stay In Your Ghetto.'

Blonds Look Angelic, But Can (oh, Happy!) Be Fleshy As Well.

In Youth, Love And Art. In Age, Investments And Antiques.

Rhyme And Meter Force Gaps In Meaning So The Muse Can Enter.

The Depressed Fall Back Exhausted From Every Undertaking.

Lechery Is Secretive, But Must Finally Reveal Itself To At Least One.

Mind And Body Obstruct One Another's Pleasures.

Pornography Supplies The Only Really Safe Sex.

The Novel Avoids The Sublime And Seeks Out The Interesting.

After Ages Of Bombast, The Rhetoric Of Virtue Has Become Ironic And Shy.

Experience Is A Great Spoiler Of Pleasures.

Expensive Advertising Courts Us With Hints And Images. The Ordinary Kind Merely Says, Buy.

Since We Hate The Same People, We Should Be Friends.

Sacred Texts Always Offend Reason.

The Cow's Point Of View Deserves More Literary Attention.

Electricity, Water, Gas, And Steam Course Through The Walls Of My Building, Keeping It Alive.

The Suburbs: Signs Of Life, But No Proofs.

By The Time I Have Clarified A Thought, I No Longer Want To Think It.

With Decrepitude, Longevity Has Overshot The Mark.

The Ordinary Life: The Misery Seems Planned, The Happiness Accidental.

Fortuna Smiles And Frowns According To A Timetable Surprising Even To Herself.

Comedy Defends The Commonplace; Tragedy Explodes It.

Theory Now: Concern For Truth Must Not Hobble Our Discussion.

Suffering Teaches Us Only That We Suffer. Joy Shows Us Which Way To Go.

The Young Break Rules For Fun. The Old For Profit.

You Are As Happy As You Think You Are, But Not Necessarily As Miserable As You Imagine.

Like Love, Destruction Can Be Ecstatic.

The Laughter Of The Aphorism Is Sometimes Triumphant, But Seldom Carefree.

Giving Out Crowns To Everyone Will Not Make A Nation Of Kings.

My Self-absorption Warms Me; Yours Boils Me.

Self Absorption

Outside Books, We Avoid Colorful Characters.

Always Assume That A Lucky Hit Will Not Be Repeated.

When Courtesy Fails, Be Nasty, Brutish, And Short.

I Am Forbidden Sugar, Fat, And Alcohol. So Hooray, I Guess, For Oatmeal, Lemon Juice, And Chicken Soup.

Self-realization Sounds Good. But What If Only An Enraged Dwarf Emerges?

The Educated Can Listen Impassively To Almost Anything.

By Multiplying Ironies, I Evade Commitments.

As I Criss-cross The City Hurrying, I Feel Always The Unchanging Cold Beneath The Pavement.

The Smile Of A Politician Is Strong And Friendly, But Noncommittal.

If Suffering Brought Wisdom, The Dentist's Office Would Be Full Of Luminous Ideas.

Boredom Makes Me Sleepy Or Restless.

Infallibility And Invincible Ignorance Are The Same Thing.

Worried About Being A Dull Fellow? You Might Develop Your Talent For Being Irritating.

I Win On My Merits; My Opponents Win By Cheating.

To Avoid Eye Contact, Kiss.

A Skyscraper Is A Boast In Glass And Steel.

A Blunt Statement Can Be As False As Any Other.

If We Knew Enough, Fortune Would Turn Out To Be Nature.

Critic's Delight: Scolding The Mighty Dead.

Self-pity Dries Up Our Sympathy For Others.

The Powerless Worship Luck And Fate.

Revenge Is Sweet But Not Nourishing.

Revenge Is Sweet

A Goldfish Is Reason Enough For Living, If Someone Needs A Reason.

The Shades Of Respectability Begin To Close About The Greying Head.

Pain Pays No Attention To Moans Or Excuses.

Ultimately, Blind Faith Is The Only Kind.

Illusions Are Hazardous, And So Are Disillusions.

Disillusionment

Strict Rules Of Evidence Would Destroy Psychoanalysis And Literary Criticism.

Sincerity: Willingness To Spend One's Own Money.

Sexual Attraction Keeps Throwing Self-interest Off Course.

As Desire Recedes, The World Becomes Clear, Pale, And Empty.

The New York Action Painters Want Their Pictures To Jump Off The Walls And Chase You Down The Street.

Melancholy Is As Seductive As Ecstasy.

Truth Is A Necessary Phantom.

Never Invite To Dinner: Those Who Won't Decide Until The Last Minute; Those Who Come More Than Half An Hour Late; Those Who Want To Bring Along Two Or Three Friends; Drunks; Monologists; Those Who Stay Until Three O'clock In The Morning; Those Who Think That Conversation Means Having An Argument; Those Who Take A High Moral Tone; Those Who Are Stupid, Ugly, Or Dull. Enforcement Of These Rules Will Enable One To Eat Alone Every Night In Comfort.

The Worship Of Mammon May Be Vulgar Or Immoral, But It Persists While Other Religions Falter And Disappear.

The Puritan Sours His Pleasures By Disguising Them As Duties.

Think Of The Many Different Relations Of Form And Content. E.g., The Many Pairs Of Trousers And What's In Them.

Friends Are Sometimes Boring, But Enemies Never.

If You Have No Power, Talk About Your Influence. If You Have Power, Talk About The Constraints That Hem You In.

Truth Can Remain Silent. Lies Must Be Spoken.

Sometimes I Dread Loneliness More Than Bores. Other Times, The Reverse.

Most People See No Reason To Stop Arguing Just Because An Issue Has Been Decided.

Smiling Half-reluctance Seems To Promise More Than The Frankest Gesture Of Desire.

I Was Once In Love With Books. Now They Go Their Way And I Go Mine.

The Vices Of Youth Now Exceed My Powers, But Not My Fancy.

Modern Pictures Banish Depiction For Interfering With The Workings Of Paint.

My Parents Wanted Me To Solace Them For Sorrows They Denied Having Had.

Eccentricity Gives Misfits A Way Of Fitting In.

A Moment Of Eloquence Enthralls Us. An Hour's Worth Leaves Us Stupefied.

The Sage Belongs To The Same Obsolete Repertory As The Virtuous Maiden And The Enlightened Monarch.

Some Subjects Come Up Suddenly In Our Speech And Cannot Be Silenced.

Being Enthusiastic Settles Nothing.

Art Begins In Imitation And Ends In Innovation.

Hope, And Hopelessness, Persist Despite The Facts.

People Often Are Unsure Whether Or Not They Are In Love, But They Generally Know Whether Or Not They Are Having Sex.

To Avoid Tripping On The Chain Of The Past, You Have To Pick It Up And Wind It About You.

A Yawn Is More Disconcerting Than A Contradiction.

Some Crave Grief Like Strong Drink.

The Modernist Writers Found Despair Inspirational.

Worry Is Not Thought; Complaining Is Not Action.

Every Doctrine Has A Theory Of The Beginning.

The Noisy Vacancy Of Youth, The Quiet Vacancy Of Age.

Money: Power At Its Most Liquid.

I Can Neither Return Your Love Nor Dismiss It.

Too Timid To Talk Back, I Shot My Adversary.

Narcissus Weeps To Find That His Image Does Not Return His Love.

The Discontented Believe That Their Regrets Are About The Past.

Studying The Past May Suggest New Ways Of Going Wrong.

You Know You're In Love When You Stop Comparing.

Winning Means Outlasting Everyone Else.

Failure Makes Us Envious. Success Makes Us Greedy.

We Do Justice Coldly, Injustice Hotly.

Pornography Does Not Inspire Violence, But You Can Break A Leg Trying To Imitate It.

When I Get The Point, I Often Don't Know What To Do With It.

The Muses Inspire Art And Pretend Not To Notice When Mammon Buys It.

Deconstruction: Peering Suspiciously At The Text, I Wait For It To Make A Slip And Betray Itself.

Never Ask A Bore A Question.

Life Just Keeps Unfolding, Ignoring Our Praise Or Blame.

Reading Gives You Some Place To Go When You Have To Stay Where You Are.

Death Promises Nothing--not Even Oblivion.

Self-reform Is The Only Kind That Works.

When You Can't Figure Out What To Do, It's Time For A Nap.

Amateurs Believe Their Enthusiasm Will Suffice.

Whatever Is Spoken Of Acquires A Certain Existence.

Victimization Has Its Privileges, And I Want Some.

The Morose One Refuses To Smile Even When He Has Just Had His Teeth Cleaned.

If The World Would Apologize, I Might Consider A Reconciliation.

Reason Argues The Case, But Fact May Determine The Judgment.

Reading Gives Us Someplace To Go When We Have To Stay Where We Are.

The Past Goes Right On Pulling Me Apart, Though I Can Scarcely Remember The People Or The Issues.

In A Strange City, I Connect Through Food And Fantasy.

To Confer Dignity, Forgive. To Express Contempt, Forget.

The Insignificance Of Man Is A Congenial Theme; My Own Insignificance Is A Sore Point.

I Know That I Am Very Much Like Everybody Else, But Not Really.

Cynicism Has Its Own Zealots.

An Imprudent Enemy Is Less Dangerous Than An Imprudent Friend.

In Retirement, Only Money And Symptoms Are Consequential.

When Love Ends, The Beloved Is No Longer Standing On A Pedestal, But In A Hole.

To Gain A Reputation For Virtue, Grieve Over Those You Injure.

Hatred Observes With More Care Than Love Does.

To Be Successful Be Ahead Of Your Time, But Only A Little.

Wisdom Has Lost Repute Because It So Often Applies To A State Of Affairs That No Longer Exists.

In The Street, The Gaze Of Desire Is Furtive Or Menacing.

To Avoid Doing Anything, Wait For The Right Circumstances.

Money Gives Me More Energy Than All The Granola Bars In The World.

Vanity Well Fed Is Benevolent. Vanity Hungry Is Spiteful.

Sex Is Not Imaginary, But It Is Not Quite Real Either.

Birth Dates And Bathroom Scales Tell More Truth Than I Want To Know.

Without A Little Negligence, Life Would Be Intolerable.

As Equality Increases, So Does The Number Of People Struggling For Predominance.

Trending Author

Miranda Richardson

John C. Calhoun

Arthur C. Clarke

Category