Thursday, January 1, 2026

Aphorisms '25

 Compiled over a period of time...


* Glass skyscrapers are actually cool, they shift colors and reflect the day and so are constantly changing.

* It is often the case that the things that take our breath away are the things that are most pleasurable. 

* There is a difference between covering oneself for self-overcoming and covering oneself in self-betrayal. The first refines, tempering flaws in pursuit of strength. The second corrupts, suppressing truth for advantage. One is self-mastery; the other, self-burial.

* Better to wound the heart with truth than to destroy it with falsehood.


Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Aphorisms '24

 

Compiled over a period of time...


* I used to have an attitude that nothing was worth making an effort for.

* While most exist between the abyss of foulness that is beneath us, and the highest abyss of lofty ideals, I choose to be, at least look at, the abyss above me. 

* Money is but a multiplier of circumstance, especially in dire times.  

* Why is it that reason begins to matter more when life fails our heart’s desires?

* The danger in love is that, when you have loved deeply and lose it, you become more demanding in your expectations for it, more cautious, and more aware of its rarity, and hence less energetic in its pursuit the next time. Finding love thus becomes increasingly difficult as life goes on.  

Monday, January 1, 2024

Aphorisms '23


 Compiled over a period of time...


* No one is as loyal as good music.

* Government is an association of politicians that perpetuate violence to the rest; the leaders I prefer are those those that would diminish the reach of government and hence the extent of violence.  There are no such politicians.  

* Baby boomers pursued the ideal through engagement, Gen Xers the interesting through exploration,  Millenials social justice through indignation.  

* One is not free to choose one’s philosophy.  One’s condition gives a set from which to choose.  The cards that are dealt in life suit certain philosophies.  Thus one’s way of thinking about existence is also based on chance.  

* It's a mistake to think a financial cushion is needed before exploring true passions.  

* Love can only be talked about through metaphors.

* Nada obligado es gustoso.

* The preferred philosophers are those that seem to develop the reader's own original thoughts.

* The reason people can’t live for centuries is due to ailments of the deceived heart.  Because to live is to love, and if you love you’ll be betrayed.  

* The suffering of betrayal will age a person more than any vice. 

* One shouldn’t shy away from failure.  They are more interesting.  I reckon that at the end of life one will be more satisfied at the failures achieved after trying, than of the safe paths taken.  The utility of action is multiplied by the risk taken, if risk is one the utility is x, if risk is two, the utility will be 2x, and son on.  And this is not conjecture.  This is observable in professional athletes.  Glory is attained after taking great risk.  Life is also like this.  Only by putting your limitations to the test can you find out your true self.  

* As he (I) constantly thought about pursuing to reclaim the lost love, it became clear that he was in a constant battle for authenticity.  While the relationship had previously been unambiguous in its beauty, it now afforded him with the struggle between yielding to the enduring affection for the woman, or to the rationality of respecting the virtues he held dear.  The strategy for this was to lure the women into speaking her truth, but she never did.  

* A person who has come back from the brink of suicide is the best suited to appreciate the absurdity of life.   

* The fixation on avoiding epigonism has resulted in mediocre art.  

* I cannot feel in life.  I must have art do aid me.  

* If one can understand Beethoven, one can understand life!

* New York is Philadelphia on steroids.

* If Beethoven's music is philosophical, the arietta of the 32nd sonata is the revelation of absurdism.

Saturday, January 1, 2022

Aphorisms '21


 Compiled over a period of time...


Borges no supo cómo Google lo solucionaría. 

Never try to see the inside of your eyes.

All legendary athletes are very emotional.

Melancholy is just as valid as joy in this life.

Move your physical body.  Run so that you can slow down your mind.  

Avoid reactive stimuli (TV, social media, etc.) to improve thinking.  Just lie down and think.

Thursday, January 7, 2021

Aphorisms '20


Compiled over a period of time...


Dog is a libertarian, cat is a conservative.  

Los niños son como los perros, encantadores si son educados, insoportables si no.  

It is said reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing a precise man.  So too this is true for the musician man.  

If life is like a party.  Don’t be the one sitting alone in the corner waiting for the party to end.  

El piano es un instrumento más intelectual que la guitarra.  La guitarra es como abrazar a una mujer.  Alguien que quiere afecto carnal podría agarrar una guitarra; alguien sapio-sexual a lo mejor escoge el piano.  

Musicians would make great novelists, and great novelists could be musicians.  For it requires musicality to do both.