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Without The Blessing Of Cowardice, The World Would Long Since Have Been Torn To Bits.

-Mason Cooley

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Without The Blessing Of

Mason Cooley

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Without The Blessing Of Cowardice, The World Would Long Since Have Been Torn To Bits.

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I Am Open-minded On All Questions I Care Nothing About.

Our Public Monuments Are Memorials To The Enlightenment.

My Father Liked To Moralize, And So Do I. But He Was In Earnest, While I Am Embarrassed And Pretend That I Am Merely Being Witty.

I Did Not Know I Was In My Prime Until Afterwards.

The More Learned A Writer, The More Digression Beckons Him.

Self-esteem Is Not Based On Itself.

Diplomats Lie With A Heavy Sense Of Destiny.

An Event Is Not Over Until Everyone Is Tired Of Talking About It.

Sometimes "yes" Is Rhetoric Enough.

Staid Middle Age Loves The Hurricane Passions Of Opera.

Sloth, Not Ill-will, Makes Me Unjust.

In Adding Up Her Assets, The Ambitious Lady Calculated The Worth Of Her Beautiful Body As Coldly As Everything Else.

Critic's Delight: Scolding The Mighty Dead.

Literary Tradition Is Full Of Lies About Poverty-the Jolly Beggar, The Poor But Happy Milkmaid, The Wholesome Diet Of Porridge, Etc.

To Appear Well Dressed, Be Skinny And Tall.

A Suburb Is An Attempt To Get Out Of Reach Of The City Without Having The City Be Out Of Reach.

A Quick Smile Is More Seductive Than A Slinky Dress.

The Grandeur Of A Philosophy Does Not Certify Its Truth.

Our Detachments Move Us Toward Freedom And Death.

I Feel Disappointed, But I Don't Remember Just What I Expected.

In Conversation, Everyone Sits In Confident Judgment On The World.

Guilt Agonizes Over Trifles, Ignores Habitual Wrongdoing.

I Cling To Depression, Thinking It A Form Of Truth.

When Lying To Someone, Look Him Straight In The Eye.

The Writer Considers Sayability Before Anything Else.

In Even The Happiest Love Story, The World Wins At Last.

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

The Exhibitionist Loves To Flirt With Shame

Popular Culture Is Seductive; High Culture Is Imperious.

Popular Culture

The Past Is Ignorant Of The Present. Be Careful In Taking Its Advice.

Mistrust Makes Life Difficult. Trust Makes It Risky.

Power Makes Gods. Virtue Makes Martyrs.

My Young Friend Supposes His Ingenuousness Is Merely A Ruse.

Conformity Makes Everything Easier, If You Can Still Breathe.

Forgetting And Remembering Are Governed By Laws, But We Cannot Find Out What They Are.

In The Labyrinth Of A Difficult Text, We Find Unmarked Forks In The Path, Detours, Blind Alleys, Loops That Deliver Us Back To Our Point Of Entry, And Finally The Monster Who Whispers An Unintelligible Truth In Our Ears.

Our Punning Minds Rejoin What Logic Has Separated.

Reading About Ethics Is About As Likely To Improve One's Behavior As Reading About Sports Is To Make One Into An Athlete.

Every Work Of Art Changes Its Predecessors.

Rule Of Religion: Purpose Breathes Even In Dirt And Stones.

Gossip Is Dying Out Because Fewer And Fewer People Care To Talk About Anything Besides Themselves.

Violence Stops Thought. Hence Its Popularity As A Pain-killer.

Eccentricity: Strength Of Character Doubling Back On Itself.

Strength Of Character

Astrology: Do We Make A Hullabaloo Among The Stars, Or Do They Make A Hullabaloo Down Here?

I Am Now Old Enough To Make Common Cause With My Predecessors Against My Successors.

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

Glamour Looks Eloquent But Seldom Talks.

Many Attempt To Harvest What Was Never Planted.

Ironic And Jittery, We Are Puzzled By The Old Heroes With Their Fighting, Boasting, And Cocksure Lovemaking.

I Create My Social Existence By Earning And Spending.

Sophistication Knows The Score, But Is Powerless To Change It.

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

Our Most Important Decisions Are Made While We Are Thinking About Something Else.

Friends Are Sometimes Boring, But Enemies Never.

Few Artists Can Afford Artistic Temperament.

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

Our Vices Are Attempts To Combine Self-medication And Enjoyment.

Saying "i Love You" Makes A Demand, But Creates No Obligations.

Commitments, Not Feelings, Hold Life Together.

Cats Are Inquisitive, But Hate To Admit It.

I Reject All Evidence That My Fabulous Beloved Is An Ordinary Person Who Worries, Watches Tv, And Has Bouts Of Indigestion.

Self-righteous Victims Invite Extra Nails.

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

First Literature Came To Refer Only To Itself, The Literary Theory.

Literary Theory

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

It Is Hard To Speak Of Sex Without Being Clinical, Brutal, Or Romantic.

Paradox Implies That Stating A Contradiction Disposes Of It.

After Desolation, Grief Brings Back Our Humanity.

Now That I See You Understand Me So Well, I Will Avoid You.

The Facts, Even The Real Ones, Must Be Imagined Before They Can Be Stated.

Pain Narrows Consciousness; Pleasure Blurs It.

As Every Cockroach Knows, Thriving On Poisons Is The Secret Of Success.

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

Nostalgia Paints A Smile On The Stony Face Of The Past.

The Soul Is No Longer Honored As It Once Was, But It Still Keeps Appetite From Being The Measure Of All Things.

Dieting Is Our Last Tie With Asceticism.

The Winner Gives Up His Chance To Be A Good Sport.

The Limits Of Prudence: One Cannot Jump Out Of A Burning Building Gradually.

Once Wealth And Beauty Are Gone, There Is Always Rural Life.

Successful Innovations Become Conventions.

Retirement Is A One-way Trip To Insignificance.

Seek And Hide: The Lover Gazes At The Beloved. The Beloved Looks Away. The Beloved Turns And Looks At The Lover. The Lover Runs Away.

To Be A Social Success, Do Not Act Pathetic, Arrogant, Or Bored. Do Not Discuss Your Unhappy Childhood, Your Visit To The Dentist,the Shortcomings Of Your Cleaning Woman, The State Of Your Bowels, Or Your Spouse's Bad Habits. You Will Be Thought A Paragon (or Perhaps A Monster) Of Good Behavior.

Unhappy Childhood

If We Think About The Obvious Long Enough, It Dissolves.

Life Is Always Rich, Thought Only Occasionally So.

Vulgarity Is Innocent; Urbanity Is Not.

As I Review My Life, I Feel I Must Have Missed The Point, Either Then Or Now.

Innocence: I Am Only Stepping On Your Face Because It Lies In My Path.

Flattery And Insults Raise The Same Question: What Do You Want?

Even Cats Grow Lonely And Anxious.

With Decrepitude, Longevity Has Overshot The Mark.

If Your Nose Is Up In The Air, You Cannot See Where You Are Going.

The Trouble With The Young People Today Is That It Is They Who Are Young.

I Like The Old Wisdom--puns, Riddles, Spells, Proverbs.

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

The Transcendental Promises A Vacation From History.

Early Every Morning An Old Woman Goes To The Market To Curse A Grocery Clerk, Who Curses Back.

Trust, But Look For The Exits.

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

My Struggles With Myself Seldom Reach Aerobic Level.

When My Expectations Are Exactly Fulfilled, I Feel That Something Uncanny Has Happened.

When Science Drove The Gods Out Of Nature, They Took Refuge In Poetry And The Porticos Of Civic Buildings.

Children Consider Disliking Their Parents Natural, But If The Dislike Is Returned, They Are Outraged.

Living Too Long Exacts A Painful Price.

One's Fetishes Are Fascinating, But Not Because Of Their Beauty Or Significance. The Same Could Be Said For One's Genitals, Or One's Children.

My Neglected Duties Crowd Around Me In My Dreams, Murmuring.

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

Complaining Is The Favorite Pastime Of Millions.

Love Talks And Talks. Lust Is Brief And To The Point.

Envy Awakens At The Sound Of A Distant Laugh.

The Ancient Mariner Seizes The Guest At The Wedding Feast And Will Not Let Go Until He Has Told All His Story: The Prototype Of The Bore.

Clothes Make A Statement. Costumes Tell A Story.

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

Being Enthusiastic Settles Nothing.

The Olympian Gods Cannot Have Grand Passions Because They Cannot Die.

As A Dream Comes True, It Falls Flat.

Dreams Come True

Your Flattery Is As Full Of Contempt As Your Insults Were.

If You Belong To The Underclass, You Are Already Guilty.

The Depressed Fall Back Exhausted From Every Undertaking.

Listen To What People Say About Themselves; They Will Tell You Everything You Need To Know.

Not Even Self-love Can Always Be Counted On For Support.

Dreams Are Distorted Representations Of Desire. So Are Dream- Analyses.

Seeing My Malevolent Face In The Mirror, My Benevolent Soul Shrinks Back.

Wisdom Cannot Prevent A Fall, But May Cushion It.

I Do Not Regret The Folly Of My Youth, But The Timidity.

A Dirty Mind Is A Rich Inner Resource.

The Wretchedness Of Failure Is The Great Attraction Of Success.

Without A Little Negligence, Life Would Be Intolerable.

Death Is Always There, Just Beneath The Surface.

Beneath The Surface

The Ugly Can Achieve An Absoluteness Beyond The Reach Of Beauty.

Asceticism Without Religion Is Just Another Way Of Cultivating Peculiar Sensations.

In New Situations, I Look Carefully At Appearances. In Familiar Ones, I Glance.

Well-behaved: He Always Speaks As If His Mother Might Be Listening.

The Imaginary Audience For My Life Is Growing Small And Silent.

In The Theater Of Confusion, Knowing The Location Of The Exits Is What Counts.

Outside Literature, High-flown Sentiments Are Merely Exasperating.

Self-inflicted Misery Smirks Under Its Crown Of Thorns.

Art Seduces, But Does Not Exploit.

Prudence Suspects That Happiness Is A Bait Set By Risk.

English Has Borrowed From Everywhere And Now Goes Everywhere.

Under Attack, Sentiments Harden Into Dogma.

The More Knowledge, The Clearer What The Doubts Are.

Fulfillment Is Often More Trouble Than It Is Worth.

Sexual Attraction Pairs People, But Does Not Match Them.

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

Creativity Makes A Leap, Then Looks To See Where It Is.

No Matter How Close Thought Sticks To The Actual, It Follows Its Own Rules.

The Truths I Shun Follow Me, Mumbling.

Satire Is Born Of The Cities It Denounces.

Futility Has Become A Great Subject, Full Of Opportunities.

Undecidability Is A Useful Category Even In Dealing With Restaurant Menus.

More Are Weakened Than Strengthened By Their Troubles.

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

The Young Are Amazed When They Suffer.

Robert Frost: Plain, Strong, Simple, And Mean.

Flattery Has To Overcome My Mistrust, And It Does.

Beautiful People Are Forgiven More Often Than The Rest.

Ideologies Can Survive Hostility, But Not Indifference.

The Aphorist Is A Hit And Run Artist.

The Lazy Manage To Keep Up With The Earth's Rotation Just As Well As The Industrious.

Suspicion Is The Beginning Of Wisdom, And Of Madness.

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

As Night Falls, Every Joy Glows Brighter.

Like Other High Subjects, The Law Gives No Ground To Common Sense.

An Aphorism That Does Not Score Is Just One More Sentence.

Beauty Compels Us; Reason Merely Cajoles.

Imagination Awakens Ambition, Then Causes It To Lose Its Way.

Philosophy Likes To Keen Common Sense On The Run.

Keep Your Lies Short And Simple.

Old Age Learns About Less After A Lifetime Of More.

Cruel Impulses Stir All About My Kindly Heart.

Necessity Makes Heroes Of Us All.

A Small Boy Puts His Hand On The Wall, And Looks Down Intently As He Wriggles His Toes. The Birth Of Thought?

My Strengths Make Me Contemptuous. My Weaknesses Make Me Charitable.

To Make A Thought My Own, I Must Think It Often.

Avid Readers Are Enchanted By Meaning, Which Is Available Chiefly In Books.

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

If You Insist On Asking Me Why I Feel The Way I Do, I Plan To Take The Fifth Amendment.

Fifth Amendment

Creativity Is Not A Substitute For Competence.

Fear Of My Cruel Impulses Makes Me Kind.

Suspense Combines Curiosity With Fear And Pulls Them Up A Rising Slope.

Friendship Is Love Minus Sex And Plus Reason. Love Is Friendship Plus Sex Minus Reason

The World Needs An Enema.

One Who Can Find Lemons Sweet And Grapes Sour Is Ready For Dame Fortune.

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

Aphorisms Are Not True Or False, But Pointed Or Flat.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Thought That Prolonging His Adolescence Would Protect His Talent.

Scott Fitzgerald

The Horse Stares At Its Captor, Barely Remembering The Free Kicks Of Youth.

Self-congratulation Pleases Only The Speaker.

Congratulations

Self-criticism Expands The Opportunities For Discourse And Eliminates The Need For An Adversary.

The Tragic Hero Prefers Death To Prudence. The Comedian Prefers Playing Tricks To Winning. Only The Villain Really Plays To Win.

True Wit Has A Grave Intention.

Growth Provides Novel Experiences For Youth; Decay The Same, Alas, For Age.

After Rejection - Misery, Then Thoughts Of Revenge, And Finally, Oh Well, Another Try Elsewhere.

Without Asceticism, Self-indulgence Would Be Insignificant.

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

The Powerless Worship Luck And Fate.

In The Museums, Everything Is In Quotation Marks.

Quotation Marks

In Ethics, Prudence Is Not An Important Virtue, But In The World It Is Almost Everything.

Your Words And My Words Are The Same, But Not Our Meaning.

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