#Maxims

[soracities]

losing it a little at Hanif Abdurraqib's new year post

[blasblack]

Andrés Camilo & Max Emerson 🏳️‍🌈🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Andrés Camilo & Max Emerson / Maxims 🏳️‍🌈🧑‍🤝‍🧑🌈

[thecurioustale]

One thing I would like to be better at is writing devastating one-liners in my fiction. You know: the kind of pithy maxims that are quoted sagely for years beyond their time. Pearls of wisdom; amazing ideas in their own right; etc., as distinguished from a beautiful line of text in a larger story.

Great one-liners really stick with ya. I've collected my share over the years. Plenty of old Latin maxims, like "What people wish, they like to believe" or "Jupiter may do what the ox may not." Picard had more than his share of them in Star Trek, like "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose." I once heard an old civil rights activist say that "With your body, you can bear witness to the truth," meaning that understanding and purpose are often fulfilled only if one is physically present for something. And heck, some sayings are so eloquent that they stick with me even if I don't necessarily agree with them, like the line from Les Misérables (the musical, not the book) that says "To love another person is to see the face of God."

I like to spoof them sometimes, when they lend themselves to it, like my telefacsimile baron's reinterpretation of Bruce Lee: "I fear not the mate who sends one thousand faxes. I fear the mate who sends a single fax one thousand times!"

Unfortunately, beyond parodying, my style of writing, together with the way my mind works, make it very unlikely for me to be able sit down and write these zingers on demand. If I come up with them at all, it's usually completely unintentional and occurs in the course of writing larger passages concerning larger ideas.

But what I may lack in pithy maxims that are quotable forever, I amply make up for with vast spreading seas of text that meander ceaselessly to the ends of the world. The ideas are often quite fair, so perhaps someday someone pithier than me will rephrase them.

[apenitentialprayer]

To see through accident into entity

[gracie-bird]

Princess Grace of Monaco at a Cartier’s party at Maxim’s restaurant in Paris on December 4, 1979.

[orthodoxicons]

31. Be simple, hidden, quiet, and small. (The Holy Fathers say: “If you want to be known by God, seek not to be known by people.” And again, it’s simplicity, hiddenness, quiet, smallness.)

55 Maxims of the Christian Life, Fr. Thomas Hopko

(See the full list of maxims here and here)

[daimonclub]

100 super worthy quotes

100 super worthy quotes 100 super worthy quotes, another post full of great valuable quotes and aphorisms selected among the best authors ever by our chief editor Carl William Brown It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish. Aeschylus If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering. Viktor Frankl I have never gotten over the trauma of coming into the world, I have never liked the stupidity of the universe, let alone if I will ever be able to accept my mother's death. Carl William Brown The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. James Branch Cabell God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh. Voltaire The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master. Ayn Rand There is nothing more awful, insulting, and depressing than banality. Anton Chekhov What people commonly call fate is mostly their own stupidity. Arthur Schopenhauer I feel completely detached from any country, any group. I am a metaphysically displaced person. Emil M. Cioran In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion. Albert Camus In such a stupid and cruel world, only imbeciles, selfish and devoid of any empathy, can find themselves at ease, also hoping to live a long time! Carl William Brown He lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, "I am looking for a human. Diogenes of Sinope Meaningful silence is better than meaningless words. Pythagoras Man is quite insane. He wouldn't know how to create a maggot, and he creates Gods by the dozen. Michel de Montaigne

Happy people read quotes Women are the real architects of society. Harriet Beecher Stowe The closer to the truth, the better the lie, and the truth itself, when it can be used, is the best lie. Isaac Asimov Vulgus (Mundus o Populus) vult decipi, ergo decipiatur. (The world wants to be deceived, and so it is.) Latin Saying Without "ethical culture", there is no salvation for humanity. Albert Einstein You can't imagine how stupid the whole world has grown nowadays. Nikolai Gogol The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. Plato One of the greatest problems of our time is that many. are schooled but few are educated. Thomas More Any idiot can face a crisis; it's this day-to-day living that wears you out. Anton Chekhov People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. Carl Jung It is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you. Arthur Conan Doyle Never interrupt your enemy, when he is making a mistake. Napoleon Bonaparte The only real goal that can have a certain value for our stupid and insignificant existence is to lose it forever. Carl William Brown When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. Ernest Hemingway The tragedy of life is that it gives us wisdom only when it has stolen youth Will Durant Force governs the world (unfortunately!) and not knowing: therefore whoever rules it can and usually is ignorant. Vittorio Alfieri

100 worthy aphorisms Competition is the law of the jungle, but cooperation is the law of civilization. Peter Kropotkin What if culture itself is nothing but a halt, a break, a respite, in the pursuit of barbarity? Slavoj Žižek The world is full of willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them. Robert Frost Doesn't surprise me that Christ our Lord preferred to live with prostitutes and sinners, seeing I go in for that myself. Johann Wolfgang Friedrich von Goethe Strong thoughts are iron nails driven in the mind, that nothing can draw out. Denis Diderot A man who does not dissent is a seed that will never grow. Bertrand Russell To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering. Friedrich Nietzsche Time and space are the stupidest, most tragic and atrocious things that can concern us. Carl William Brown Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and, always discontented with what he has, loves only what he has not. People complain of the despotism of princes; they ought to complain of the despotism of man. Joseph de Maistre I myself must also say I believe it is true that in the end humanitarianism will triumph; only I fear that at the same time the world will be one big hospital and each person will be the other person's humane keeper. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. Joseph Brodsky The history of the world's great leaders is often the story of human folly. Voltaire The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke Be alone, that is the secret of invention: be alone, that is when ideas are born. Nikola Tesla Bad temper is its own safety valve. He who can bark does not bite. Agatha Christie The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. Marcus Aurelius This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief. Rumi Life not lived is a disease from which one can die. Carl Gustav Jung Some people have no idea what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it. George Carlin The poet sees, at the same time and from a single point, what is visible to two, in isolation. Boris Pasternak

Worthy and valuable quotes Life begins on the other side of despair. Jean-Paul Sartre Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool. Seneca A man is the sum of his misfortunes. One day you'd think misfortune would get tired but then time is your misfortune. William Faulkner To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. Anatole France I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness. Fyodor Dostoevsky Death smiles at us all; all a man can do is smile back. Marcus Aurelius On the verge of death he remembered his mother who was waiting for him in the reality that does not exist and almost pleased he consoled himself. Carl William Brown Awareness of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom. Socrates Women are meant to be loved, not understood. Oscar Wilde Persons unmask their evilest qualities when they do quarrel. George Herbert A student of Buddhism tries to unlearn something daily. Alan Watts Everyone gets the experience. Some get the lesson. T. S. Eliot To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. Ralph Waldo Emerson We are all like the bright moon, we still have our darker side. Khalil Gibran We are all born originals and die copies. Carl Gustav Jung I have a theory that the moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. Henry Miller The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think. Aristotle Bees don’t waste their time explaining to flies that honey is better than shit! Anonymous I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent my power and possessions. Plutarch In this super sea of shit, we are all in the same boat, but those who row are always the same. Carl William Brown

Quote against warfare Artificial intelligence will be Man's most important achievement. Too bad it could be the last. Stephen Hawking Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. Benjamin Franklin If you don't have ideas, read. If you have ideas, but can't articulate them, write. If you have ideas, and have the clarity to execute, build. Dan Koe Knowledge is no guarantee of good behavior, but ignorance is a virtual guarantee of bad behavior. Martha C. Nussbaum. When reading, we don't fall in love with the characters' appearance. We fall in love with their words, their thoughts, and their hearts. We fall in love with their souls. Anonymous The best things can only be achieved with maximum effort. Goethe Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque. U. G. Krishnamurti The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.. John Milton It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong. Voltaire What is called a reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying. Albert Camus The bad thing of war is, that it makes more evil people than it can take away. Immanuel Kant Reason connot defeat emotion, an emotion can only be displaced or overcome by a stronger emotion. Baruch Spinoza Compassion for our parents is the true sign of maturity. Anais Nin You only know me as you see me, not as I actually am. Immanuel Kant The closer to the truth, the better the lie, and the truth itself, when it can be used, is the best lie. Isaac Asimov The tragedy of life is that it gives us wisdom only when it has stolen youth Will Durant The tragedy of life is that it gives us wisdom only when it has stolen youth Will Durant The enjoyment of power inevitably corrupts the judgment of reason, and perverts its liberty. Immanuel Kant Let us not burden our remembrances With a heaviness that's gone. William Shakespeare Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains. Rousseau

Read quotes and relax The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum. Noam Chomsky Those who are right do not argue. Those who argue are not right. Lao Tzu We live for books. A sweet mission in this world dominated by disorder and decay. Umberto Eco The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. Milan Kundera When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. Abraham Joshua Heschel The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. William James Comprehension, inventiveness, direction, and criticism: intelligence is contained in these four words. Alfred Binet Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience. The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. Leo Tolstoy I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars. E. M. Forster Geniuses are like thunderstorms. They go against the wind, terrify people, cleanse the air. Soren Kierkegaard Books for general reading always smell badly; the odor of common people hangs about them. Friedrich Nietzsche Don’t miss these other similar posts: Wise quotes from the Ancients 100 golden quotes and aphorisms 100 wonderful quotes and aphorisms 100 admirable quotes and aphorisms 100 magnificent quotes and aphorisms 100 brilliant quotes and aphorisms 100 famous quotes and aphorisms 100 memorable quotes and aphorisms 100 excellent quotes and aphorisms 100 top great quotes and aphorisms 100 great quotes on love Great and famous philosophy quotes Quotes by authors Quotes by arguments Thoughts and reflections Essays with quotes Read the full article

[random-xpressions]

I often seem to be wrangling with fate but then when I find God's laughter at how my expectations of this world has been broken, I forget all my disappointments and laugh along with him. I've my way and he has his. It makes more sense that I must surrender to his preferences over mine even though at the beginning it may taste a little bitter. He laughs when I weeps - that's how I've kept this divine relationship alive and green. None but a lover will understand how this complex relationship works.

Random Xpressions

[orchidblack]

"If you think technology will solve your problems, you don’t understand technology—and you don’t understand your problems."

-Laurie Anderson

[rains-of-words]

Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and fans the bonfire.

Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Maxims

[witchbitchheadedtoaditch]

Delphic Maxims

The Delphic Maxims are a collection of 147 maxims (truths, rules of conduct) said to have been delivered by Apollo himself to the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle inspired the Seven Sages to write them down at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. The Seven Sages were early 6th-century BCE philosophers, mystics, politicians, and law-givers who wrote the maxims down.

The maxims are said to provide a framework for an honest, worthy way of living. They are not absolutes. Rather, they are guidelines and advice. Because the ability to act and think for yourself is such a crucial part of the gifts from the Gods, it is important to remind yourself that you do not have to follow them all exactly as they are written. Some of the Delphic Maxims are also specific to ritual or time period, not to morality, and this should be taken into account as well.

As Hellenismos is an oral tradition first and foremost, these rules are still open to interpretation. Oral tradition has reinterpreted these maxims time and time again throughout history, there is nothing wrong with them continuing to evolve.

There are three maxims that are inscribed on a column in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. These were:

Know thyself

Nothing in excess

Surety brings ruin

The rest of the Delphic Maxims are traditionally translated as follows:

Follow the Gods

Obey the law

Respect the Gods/Worship the Gods

Respect your parents/Obey the virtuous 

Be ruled by justice/Be overcome by justice

Know by learning/Know what you have learned

Listen and understand/Perceive what you have heard

Know yourself/Be yourself

Set out to be married/Intend to get married

Know your opportunity

Think mortal thoughts/Think as a mortal/Live without sorrow

Know when you are an outsider/If you are a stranger, act like one

Honor the hearth/Honor Hestia/Avoid that which is unjust

Be in control of yourself/Control yourself/Testify what is right

Help your friends/Control pleasure

Control your temper/Control anger

Exercise prudence

Honor forethought/Honor providence

Do not use an oath

Embrace friendship/Love friendship

Cling to education/Cling to discipline

Pursue honor/Praise virtue

Be eager for wisdom/Long for wisdom

Praise the good

Find fault with no one

Praise virtue

Practice what is just/Train your relatives

Show favor to your friends/Be kind to friends

Ward off your enemies/Watch out for your enemies

Exercise nobility of character

Shun evil

Be impartial

Guard what is yours

Shun what belongs to others

Listen to all/Listen to everyone

Be fair of speech/Be religiously silent

Look after your own/Do a favor for a friend

Nothing in excess

Save time/Use time sparingly

Look to the future/Foresee the future

Despise insolence

Have respect for suppliants

Be accommodating to all/Be accommodating in everything

Educate your sons

If you have, give/Give what you have

Fear deceit

Speak well of everyone

Be a seeker of wisdom

Choose what is holy/Choose what is divine

Act from knowledge/Act when you know

Shun murder

Pray for what is possible

Consult the wise

Test your character/Test the character

If you have received, give back/Give back what you have received/Believe in time

Look down on none/Down-look no one/Receive for the pleasure

Make use of expertise/Use your skill/Prostrate before the divine

Give what you aim to give/Do what you mean to do

Honor generosity/Honor a benefaction

Envy no one/Be jealous of no one/Do not boast in might

Be on your guard

Praise hope/Use the one who has the same interests as you

Despise slander/Despise a slanderer

Gain possessions justly/Be embarrassed to lie

Honor good people

Know who is the judge/Know the judge/If you believe in something do not be scared to act for it

Control your marriages/Master wedding-feasts

Recognize fortune/Be firm on what has been agreed

Don’t make risky promises/Flee a pledge

Speak plainly

Associate with likeminded people/Associate with your peers

Control your expenditure/Govern your expenses

Be happy with what you have

Revere a sense of shame

Repay favors/Fulfill a favor

Pray for success/Pray for happiness

Embrace your fate/Be fond of fortune

Listen and observe/Observe what you have heard

Work for what you can own

Despise strife

Detest disgrace

Restrain your tongue

Shun violence/Keep yourself from insolence

Make just judgements

Use what you have

Judge incorruptibly

Make accusations face to face/Accuse one who is present

Speak from knowledge/Tell when you know

Have no truck with violence/Do not depend on violence

Live free of sorrow/Live without sorrow

Have kindly interactions/Live together meekly

Complete the race and don’t chicken out/Finish the race without shrinking back

Deal kindly with everyone

Do not curse your sons

Control your wife/Rule your wife

Benefit yourself

Be courteous

Respond in a timely manner/Give a timely response

Struggle for glory/Struggle with glory

Act decisively/Act without repenting

Repent your errors/Repent of sins

Control your eye

Give timely counsel

Act without hesitation/Act quickly

Guard friendship

Be grateful

Pursue harmony

Keep secret what should be secret/Keep deeply the top secret

Fear what rules/Fear ruling

Pursue what is profitable

Accept due measure

Dissolve enmities/Do away with enmities

Accept old age

Do not boast about power/Do not boast in might

Exercise religious silence

Shun hatred/Flee enmity

Acquire wealth justly

Do not abandon honor

Despise evil

Take sensible risks/Venture into danger prudently

Never tire of learning/Do not tire of learning

Never cease being thrifty/Do not stop to be thrifty

Admire oracles

Love those whom you rear

Do not fight an absent foe/Do not oppose someone absent

Respect the old/Respect the elder

Instruct the young

Do not put your trust in wealth/Do not trust wealth

Respect yourself

Do not initiate violence/Do not begin to be insolent

Crown your ancestors

Die for your country

Do not live your life in discontent/Do not be discontented by life

Do not make fun of the dead

Share the load of the unfortunate

Gratify without harming

Have no grief/Grieve for no one

Beget good from good/Beget from noble routes

Make promises to none

Do not wrong the dead

Do as well as your mortal status permits/Be well off as a mortal

Do not put your trust in chance/Do not trust fortune

As a child, be well-behaved

As a youth, be self-disciplined

As a middle-aged person, be honest

As an old man, be sensible

At your end, be without sorrow

[penhive]

Quotes

Life is a reason to live and a passion to feel.

Fiction is an enigma of the self.

Art is the mirror of nature.

The dead become memories of experience.

Music is the painting of words.

Figures of speech have to be experienced as art.

Listen to your inner soul.

My self surrenders to passion.

God’s footsteps are path for light to follow.

Desire is the source to pleasure. Make dreams a working reality.

In ecstasy and orgasm the self-partakes a mystic joy.

Love the self as it’s a soft soul.

A merry self lacks no joy.

When the world puts you down rise up with optimism.

Make figures of speech an active life.

The self is an opulent ornament.

When an opportunity comes grab it with outstretched hands.

A rainbow is a painting made by God as a covenant of peace.

Carry no demons of envy, malice and covetousness.

Wit is seasonal flesh.

God gives more than you ask.

The etiquette of happiness is contentment.

Let loose your passion.

God’s morals are a conscience of reason

Find time to exercise passions.

Liberty has to thrive with freedom.

Take a risk and see what you get.

Wisdom is the folly of the lover.

Wisdom is the path to philosophy.

Finance gratifies the body.

Nietzsche is a wounded soul.

Walking on water is spiritual acrobatics.

Demons are spirits that antagonize the self.

Torment in hell is more than you can imagine.

Man’s search for beauty never ends.

Existence is the essence of meaning.

Life is the flow of a river.

We can take refuge and help in God.

Socrates was a wise philosopher who knew nothing.

I want God to make my footstool earth a prosperous dwelling place.

Lust is an ecstatic sin.

I have done fornication on the bed of poetry and I feel truly repentant.

[blasblack]

Max Emerson / Maxims ❤️‍🔥

Max Emerson 🔥💕

[paristrendsvu]

[stmol]

🪶 Μακάρι να είχα περισσότερο χρόνο να του έδειχνα πως ο καθένας μας έχει ένα όνειρο και το καλύτερο που έχουμε να κάνουμε είναι να το ζήσουμε, κι όχι να ζούμε τα όνειρα των άλλων. | Στράτος Λάγιος

photo by EvAr Αξιοσημείωτα από το βιβλίο του Στράτου Λάγιου “Ο Γιός της Σελήνης” 🪶 Τα βιβλία τού δίδαξαν ότι από το πρώτο παιδί που γεννήθηκε μέχρι το τελευταίο, ο άνθρωπος προσπάθησε να φτάσει τον Δημιουργό. Κάθε παιδί ήταν ό,τι καλύτερο από την ένωση των δύο γονιών. Όταν το τελευταίο θα απορροφούσε όλη τη γνώση, ο άνθρωπος θα ήταν ένα βήμα πιο κοντά στον στόχο του. 🪶 Το σκοτάδι έδωσε τη θέση…

[gracie-bird]

Princess Grace of Monaco arriving at Maxim's on December 2, 1978.