waka waka waka » Apophthegmata

Spring

Malcolm — Sat, 04 May 2013 02:19:26 +0000

George Santayana said:

Repetition is the only form of permanence that nature can achieve.

We, however, are exempt — and nature reminds us every spring that while she is cyclical, we are linear. For us, spring, and winter, come but once.

Triage

Malcolm — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 17:03:48 +0000

The perfect should never be the enemy of the good, but we should always let the good be the enemy of the merely convenient.

Fail

Malcolm — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 04:33:46 +0000

The central inconsistency of multiculturalism: the belief that a culture that believes all cultures are of equal value is a superior culture.

Rear View

Malcolm — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 16:09:06 +0000

Living is walking backwards. All we can see is where we’ve already been.

High Road

Malcolm — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 01:25:49 +0000

“In the mountains the shortest route is from peak to peak, but for that you must have long legs.”

- Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Golden Mean

Malcolm — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:06:39 +0000

If you look at any vigorous society in its prime, you see a healthy balance between rights and privileges. When either grows too much at the expense of the other, a nation declines: on the one hand toward impotent mediocrity, on the other into tyranny.

Synesthesia

Malcolm — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 02:58:04 +0000

What’s your favorite color? Mine are the darker blues and greens; best of all are the deep and aqueous tones in between.

The blues and greens are horizontal, and patient, and extended in time, like the sea and the sky and forest; the reds and yellows and oranges are vertical, and call us to the present moment — like fire, and blood, and flowers, and ripe fruits.

Knot

Malcolm — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:47:33 +0000

An unconfirmable truth: the unexamined life is not worth living.

Maybe A Little

Malcolm — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:30:28 +0000

This afternoon, a commenter on our previous post asked me:

Malcolm, are you cynical?

Meanwhile, an old friend wrote me today to quote something I had, apparently, said to him when I was about 17 or 18. I don’t remember saying it, but here it is anyway:

Everyone needs a pack of lies to live by, and if you’d rather not create your own there’s no shortage of people who’ll be happy to hand you theirs.

So, I don’t know. Could be, I guess.

Chain Of Fools

Malcolm — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:44:25 +0000

A brain is only as strong as its weakest think.

Could Be Worse

Malcolm — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:48:00 +0000

Life is hard, but at least it’s short.

Just Asking

Malcolm — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:12:43 +0000

Perhaps the most important question of all is: what is the most important question of all?

Intermission

Malcolm — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:16:32 +0000

There is an agreeable interval between childhood and marriage during which a man may eat what he pleases.