We are all strange in some way or other, and strangeness itself being part of the unacceptable strangeness of being.

It is preferable as you go along to make up your own wisdom from the dry bones of other’s great wisdom, but never to slavishly follow the dusty old ideas of your predecessors.

Of course you can admire some people for what they are, but you cannot possibly do so for very long.

The essential quality of the unexpected is change, and change needs adapting to or it is overwhelming.

Scratch backs, for whomsoever scratches backs gets his back scratched back.

A good insult is worth killing over, so one had better not do either.

Even the wisest of men cannot see how stupid he appears without a mirror to reflect what he does.

Madness at play puts on a happy face and goes to play tag with the townsfolk.

We can all have differences of opinion, just so long as they don’t differ too much from everyone else’s.

We are all one, together, but some of us are in two minds about it.

Politeness is a boon…and especially in such an impolite society.

The obligation to give back bears with it a benefit that is never grasped by those who cannot give at all.

Mistakes are made to be learned from, but that is not to say you have to make mistakes so you can learn from them.

Without commenting on something, we are reduced to commenting on anything.

Always check out the experts: they know too much to know it all already.

You can’t buy genius, although at the right price it is usually possible to rent it.

With ordinary people, sometimes it is better to be ordinary.

Those who have no time to bother anyone else probably have no time to be bothered with it anyway.

Sometimes, the time to “get up and walk” for some people has long since passed them by, probably because they’ve become much too familiar with “just sitting around and doing nothing”.

An ignorant man can generally be left ignorant, unless he is put in charge of something important, in which case he should be congratulated for it.

One does not “survive beyond death”. Does a crinkle crisp survive being eaten by a living god? No. It is the same with people.

Death, a private affair arranged between two parties, oneself and a silent scream.

Those who could never bring themselves to laugh at themselves should at least try to give it a go, if only that it’s so much an appropriate a thing to do.

You work best at what you do best, so why work so hard at anything else?

Some people are not happy at all but like it like that. This one simple fact also creates much happiness in the world.

Waiting patiently for something to do is also a way of creating something to do, although it isn’t as creative as doing something more creative.

People will say what they mean when they mean to attack you; while, sometimes, when an earlier attack has already proved successful, will say nothing instead.

Non-judgemental people have taken that discerning, life-affirming emotional step of judging everybody they meet long ago. But they never seem to admit it.

We betray out friends most easily with whatever opinion of their ignorant opinions which we do not immediately share with them.

Not saying, “thank you,” gives you the option of being unduly crass without a moment’s hesitation, but how practical that is is open to question.

To commit to something is the only way of gaining anything. But what then happens to those who do nothing of the sort?

The great maxim of progress: With knowledge—ignorance!

Not all men think alike, but it’s a pretty close run thing.

We move on from the past, although all we have is the future to look forward to.

There is nothing “so immensely sad” to the eyes of a dead man.

We watch the failures failing…they might do something interesting.