A man will set a limit on the wasting of his time and won’t like to waste a minute of it, but, if he is wise about it, he will put some time aside to do it anyway.

Selfishness: the fully self-propelled direction to a man’s life.

One’s own efforts are all that one owns, and sometimes that’s all one has left.

Emotions may be a guide to one’s actions but, in all sense (and even with common sense), they cannot possibly be allowed to govern them.

Falling over your own bootstraps wouldn’t happen so often if you remembered to do them up more often, but nonetheless it is always going to be a loosing battle.

It is a curious thing… to find how many things one can forget while trying to remember something important.

Being second-rate is almost as good as being first-rate… as long as no one cottons-on to the fact that there’s a distinct difference of emphasis there.

Sometimes, one can reject overtures of friendship purely on grounds of good taste… although that probably doesn’t say much about the purity of friendship.

The uses of friendship should not be demarcated by the everyday, but by the extraordinary, thereby exhibiting its true worth, and thus also any accompanying lack of propriety.

There is no friendship without qualification, but it is the qualifications that break it.

If it is our desires which lead us up the garden path, but it is our actions that set them in stone.

The difference between a whore and a philosopher is that one does what he or she does solely for the money involved, while the other one does it purely for pleasure.

Having an inkling of what to do next is not the quite same as thinking of making a decision; it’s more insidious than that, although it’s still quite near it.

Strength is the ability to do what is necessary at the right time in the right place, and, if that is not quite possible, to at least try to do the right thing before it is too late.

Indifference is not a crime, but, on purely humanitarian grounds, it definitely should be classed as one.

He who baulks at the challenge he is presented with, within reason, then often finds that he has nothing else better to do anyway.

Once one wishes to divest oneself of someone’s unwelcome company, his help in this regard would be the only thing welcome in his presence.

Those who expect to thrive on the milk of human kindness must also expect not to starve because of it. They must have much in common with optimists.

Honour is for the higher man, but that’s not to say he should be allowed to rub your nose in it in the scrum.

It is not necessary to act honourably at all times, it is just necessary not to get caught not acting like it.

There is no need to twist the knife in every time an occasion calls for it, although there is always a need to be prepared to do it at any time, as occasion permits.

People don’t deserve to get what they don’t want, but then deserve has nothing to do with it.

The step down from the mundanely magnificent to the nonchalantly sublime is a surprisingly short one.

Expecting the unexpected doesn’t excuse a having vague parabolic excuse for missing the point.

In permanence is also a little impermanence, and, sometimes, quite a lot.

Reject your ties if you wish to if they are the ties that bind you, but do not expect to be treated kindly for it.

He who lacks the freedom to do as he likes, at all times, certainly likes to impose upon somebody else’s freedoms when he can.

Beware of those who despise “us” without “much good reason”, for, much more than this, “they” themselves are, more or less, despicable for it.

There can be little objection to the beliefs of “true believers”, provided that they do not seek to impose those beliefs (or its effects) on others of a different persuasion, and yet most still love to do it, all the time.

Even to the laziest of men the indifference of others to their plight is a tonic that is unrivalled in its efficacy, that is, if he hasn’t already died of atrophy.

Men look for equality with other men, and if they don’t find it they’re rather put off by it.

First off, weakness is poor positioning; secondly, it is a lack of appropriate action.

In a mud-slinging contest one accusation is as good as any other, particularly where it is returned in good order.

Most mental strength lies in not thinking of what can actually be thought of, and then ignoring it.

Know the world for what it is as well as it knows you: The world is not a cradle, a nursery, or a playground: it is a testing ground for those who can survive its testing conditions.

Storytellers like very much to tell us “the story of life” in a condensed form; but this is not life, this is just another point of view on living a life, as life “is another story”.

Humour brings us together and divides us; anything else confuses us too much.

Too much choice is constrictive, which is not to say too little choice is constructive.

When echoes of reality begin to echo in your ears, you probably need a reality check.

One day the copyists will lead the world from behind, but not this day.

Our memories are made from those things we cannot possibly forget, but perhaps should try.

Humanity: trivial beings with a very short shelf life.

Oddness is in us, and especially round the edges of our beings.

Rejection has something of a direction in it: to divest the rejected rejecter of a nuisance to himself.

Knowing the malicious nature of some others (some of whom may even dislike you “on principle”) should not change your own, as you should already be prepared for that.

We are all faulty, so we don’t have to worry about that sort of thing too much anyway.

What is weird cannot be tolerated in human society, but at least it can be observed as a form of “mass observation”.

The place where you live your life governs your perceptions: there is always room for manoeuvre there.

Perhaps the saddest thing you can say about anybody is that he is good at what he does… but only perhaps.

We look down our noses upon those who look down on us, probably because we can never fully conform to their exacting standards of behaviour when it regards our own.

Those who we do not wish to take with us we tend to leave behind.