Contradicta





Truth cloaks itself in paradox, lies in deception, poetry in obscurity, love in self-effacement. Everything important remains masked.


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Those that can no longer be surprised lose the capacity to surprise. By being predictably astonishing, some console themselves.

Contradicta





There is one mountain that will never be scaled: the height of arrogant stupidity.




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When you've been duped do something quickly, but make your plan slowly.

Contradicta






Nothing is easy until you do it every day.




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The secret of generosity is to know how to rest.

Contradicta





Friends are like angels, wonderfully givng and kind,
but mostly invisible or flying off somewhere.



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If we only knew how much others needed us
we might let ourselves need them.

Contradicta






The fewer the notes the greater the melody.




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Originality- having the boldness to exhale what everyone else inhales.

Contradicta





In the voice of kindness truth sings, or at least rings; from the mouth of cruelty it stings.




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Children can keep hardly anything to themselves. It's love that should be seen and not heard.

Contradicta




Sun, water and praise will grow anything.




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The only thing in this world that is infinite is the envy of small minds.

Contradicta





To treasure- that is the treasure.




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If you can't find time to do everything find time to do nothing.

Contradicta




Little time to think about what you don't like or don't have when so much time is needed to think about what you can't understand.



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I fell asleep on a merry-go-round with a pocketful of tickets and woke up on a roller coaster with a handful of stubs.

Contradicta




Even when being hurtful, people think they've been kind. They could have been so much meaner!




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The best way to show how you feel is to ask a question.

Contradicta




You can always tell how much a well- known writer is being read by how condescending they are. The less read, the more condescending.



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No fame without maim.

Contradicta




"Beauty is truth- truth, beauty- that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." John Keats.

- Maybe so, but not if you live in New York.



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"Perpetual moderness is the measure of merit in every work of art." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks, Waldo, but I'll take an old-fashioned aphorism any day.



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Camena longa, vita brevis.

Poetry is long, life is short.

Contradicta




Measure detracts from pleasure.





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Until noticed, even the loveliest things feel plain.

Contradicta



The poems are all telling me the same thing. "This is all a poem. You're alive, get it?"




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Ah, poetry. It's such a pleasure to have somthing that does not demand to be understood, in a world where clearly there is already not one iota of understanding to spare.

Contradicta



When I see something beautiful I try not to think about poetry; when I see poetry I just try not to think.



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Never ponder, never sink, never overeat, never drink, never proselytyze, never stall, never do anything at all.

Contradicta



News and advertising persuade us to memorize what we can't believe.





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Truth is bland, so few ask for seconds; surprise is sweet and everyone asks for more.






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Imitating well is the sincerest form of revenge.





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Slow and steady comes in like a lamb and gets fleeced by a lion.

Contradicta



Remember music, particularly in times of weariness and despair- as its charms are nearly inexhaustible and its demands negligible.




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Aimless thought explores every open path- but most converge on the downward slope.

Contradicta



Nakedness is universally fascinating except for the naked truth- which must be considered boring- since it is always decked out in controversy, or at least wit.



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Everyone knows what to say- no one knows what to do- except for those who do not care what they say and shoot first.

Contradicta



Beware the sly generosity of the thief who freely distributes the right to steal.




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If someone takes what is yours you have less, but if you forfeit your generosity you lose everything.




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Flattery and deceit paint a fine smile on imitation's lips in deception's hall of mirrors.




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The lighthouse is far away and dim on the shores of mistrust's lonely latitudes




.

Contradicta





People go to extremes in order to be different. But the remarkable differences are the subtle ones.



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Life creates immense variety- but all endings are the same.





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No two thoughts are exactly alike- until someone writes them down.




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All books exist to end in a thought.




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I read to understand feelings.
I write to understand thoughts.
Sometimes talking helps me to understand what I need to know or do.
But if I want to just understand I stay quiet.


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Understanding is like gladly coming to the end of a chapter of a book you've been totally absorbed in. But still, you don't want the book to end.