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.

A scholar is someone who does what he can with the information at hand. An ignoramus, however, doesn’t even know what the word scholar means, let alone ignoramus (although he might always suspect).

In the main, dislike rules the world, and about that not much can be said.

You compete to live, and you work to compete. If you don’t do either, inevitably, you’re half-dead already.

Questions beg answers which need answering with more questions, but who says so?

The desire to be with people should always be tempered with the knowledge of what they are.

Only the cock-eyed can look at the world askance and get a clearer image back than was there to be seen in the first place.

What happens to all the mystery when all the mystery has gone?

Answers aren’t always all that important, just so long as you have all the right questions.

Some places are places to do things; other places are places where nothing can be done.

You cannot “start again” if you haven’t started in the first place.

The secret is: nobody tells you the secret; that, you have to find out for yourself.

People don’t like it when you look through them; they expect you to see something there.

Even a complete moron never accepts that he is a moron, no matter how many people neglect to inform him of it.

There is no place in this world for a stupid man: he is going to have to make room, chiefly by being annoying to others in his way.

Know the world for what it is and 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.

One of the most annoying things about social observers is that occasionally they can actually be right.

Never expect altruism from anybody, let it surprise you instead.

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.

Sometimes, you can wake up in the morning and blame the world for nothing whatsoever. Which is not good, because there’s so much you can blame the world for with good reason instead.

You lose your usefulness to friends mostly with the changing of the weather.

Be careful of what you say, you might have to wear it.

Pride is for the wise to keep close, but is the domain of fools.

Always smile at the ones you don’t have much time or use for.

Never give advice to someone who’s lost the plot, as he’s already far ahead of you.

Having something to gnaw at gives us all the energy we need to get by with.

Established institutions need to be poked fun at, or else they simply forget to wobble in the breeze.

What is bitterness other than a lost flower of youth?

Ignorance is a deceitful liar, until it kicks you in the teeth and laughs in your face, then it’s quite revealing.

If you don’t know what you need to know already, you probably don’t know anything much either.

You may not always know what someone who dislikes you really thinks of you, but I can tell you right now that it probably isn’t very flattering.

The joy of being a terrible person is in that you cannot get any better than that, and that is hugely encouraging.

You can walk away from responsibility, but you certainly can’t walk back.

The lazy man is universally despised, but he will never fully understand why.

Disappointment is such a reassuring thing to us all, or else we would not know where we stand on the matter.

To achieve the best is best of the best, after all, they’ve got nothing better to do.

Sometimes, even making the right decision gets you nowhere you would want to go.

Sometimes, the time to “get up and walk” for some people has long since passed them by.

The world makes us complete, or it squashes us flat, like a pancake.

The refined reader: something with a point at both ends and no lead in the middle.