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This page is a string of annotated aphorisms. Mr. Bierce was right when he defined aphorisms. Aphorisms are predigested wisdom; they are the product of someone else's thought. However, aphorisms are also voices spoken by people of the past. These voices expose small bits of the speakers' beliefs about the human experience. These voices serve to show what their speakers believed, and possibly these voices serve to influence the beliefs of other humans. I have chosen a few voices that represent what I believe. These voices did not so much change my view of the world, as did they help clarify what I was seeing.
Television is chewing gum for the eyes. --Frank Lloyd Wright. Well, who doesn't chew gum once in a while though?Love is an ocean of despair surrounded by a sea of midgets. --unknown source. I found this on the blackboard of an AP English class. If you know who said it, please let me know. It seems to fit just about right.I am one of the midgets. --Benton Love. Below the prior quote, Benton wrote this on the board and signed it with the name of a relatively short personality at the old school. I think he was saying this for a lot of people other than the vertically challenged, although he didn't realize it at the time.Firmness of courage or effort of fear? --Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim. An insightful question into one's motivation.And besides, the last word is not said -- probably shall never be said. Are not our lives too short for that full utterance which through all our stammerings is of course our only and abiding intention? I have given up expecting those last words, whose ring, if they could only be pronounced, would shake both heaven and earth. There is never time to say our last word -- the last word of our love, of our desire, faith, remorse, submission, revolt. The heaven and the earth must not be shaken, I suppose -- at least, not by us who know so many truths about either. --Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim. I take it to mean that you'll be hard pressed to get the last word in, and that you'd be best to live life as you can without trying to.tanstaafl --Robert Heinlein. There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. For whenever it just seems to good to be true. sans me parler et sans me regarder --Jaques Prevert, "Dejeuner du Matin." Without talking to me, without looking at me. Just a brief phrase from a picture of departure. nox est una perpetua dormienda --Catullus, Carmen 5. There is one perpetual night which must be slept through. Catullus was talking about death. I like it just for the literal meaning.Utram bibis? Aquam an undam? --John Fowles, The Magus Which are you drinking? The water or the wave? A question I find fascinating. Sometimes I think it's about form vs. function, although I like to think of it also about two levels of conciousness. Just one of many great things from The Magus.Quid pluram dicam? --Cicero, Verres. What more can I say? I don't know. What more can I say? Achtung, bebit! --Juan Moreno. Watchout, baby! A lost warning from a friend and mentor whom I'll never forget. A man who got me using the Mac as a tool, as a thing to explore. A man who did a lot more than database programming, and who inspired me to do a lot more than I thought I could. Here's to you, Juan.Mit der dumheit kampfe gotte selbst vergebens. --German proverb. Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain. For those times when a fool messes up something done by smart people. I don't have problems like this, but my dad does, and I put this in here for his sake.Nicht kleckern, sondern klotzen. --Heinz Guderian, in conversation. Don't fiddle with the food, make a meal of it. That is, stop piddling around and make what you want to happen happen.
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