Sunday, February 6, 2011

Wisdom has learned everything from chance.

When I reached the top of the ladder I was no taller than before.

The best advice is what the skylark gives by singing.

Even an inchworm gets where it's going.

We write while sleepwalking and revise when awake.

That the sun has burnt you is no argument against it.

Let everything exist. No need to pick and choose.

The pursuit of unhappiness always succeeds.

The rain that falls wherever it pleases. I want to be that rain.

It's not worth staying up all night just to paint masterpieces.

Chaos is any order opposed to freedom.

When something is done for nothing it's done with the highest purpose in mind.

One is never wounded by the love one gives, only by the love one expects.

73 comments:

  1. "We write while sleepwalking and revise when awake" - very true. And the last one is perfect for this month.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is a thread here and all of your aphorisms that weaves such a wonderful line of letting things be.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, a collection of uber good ones. When you mention the skylark, NP you sound just like Rumi. And I love that comment about the pursuit of unhappiness...how true it is!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It took me a long time to finally realize the pursuit of unhappiness always wins and stopped doing that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The first one is very insightful. It makes you wonder.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "When something is done for nothing it's done with the highest purpose in mind." this one is my favourite.

    It's nice to have a selection of your best, np. Thank you for that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi, Marty — So nice to read your aphorisms again, it always feels comfortable here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love this one:
    "When something is done for nothing it's done with the highest purpose in mind"
    Just giving/doing and not expecting anything in return...
    How true.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Marty - long story short I followed you with another blog and in wordpress but Got hacked, and now back! So nice to read your A's again! You are so creative, my friend.

    ReplyDelete
  10. My fav: "that the sun has burnt you..."....note to myself: remember to use it next time, please! : ) : )

    ReplyDelete
  11. ...just when i think i have a favourite, i get to the next one.

    ReplyDelete
  12. "Let everything exist no need to pick and choose"
    Could you have a better philosophy of life than that?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I don't know if Michelangelo or Mozart would agree with you on "not worth being up all night to paint a masterpiece" It was a choice and a passion that they're not even aware that they have forfeited sleep!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I may be no taller at the top of the ladder, but it sure helps my short @$$ reach the shelves in the cupboard! *L* ;)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Another wonderful collection! I always look forward to them. :-)

    My favourites...

    When I reached the top of the ladder I was no taller than before.

    The best advice is what the skylark gives by singing.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The first and the last are wholemeal bread either side of something even more nourishing. Love 'em!

    ReplyDelete
  17. The second one will help keep one's humility in check.

    ReplyDelete
  18. wow..this is so incredible.I love all of this..

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thoughts that keep us going, limes that surely heals us. Keep it up. You are the man!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hmmmm...what canna say...if there was one thing I could take ta heaven with me...it would be ur aphorisms...luv ya

    ReplyDelete
  21. "The pursuit of unhappiness always succeeds." What thought-provoking statement, NP. All of these are excellent, as always.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Jesus, I would have to write a comment to every line because every single one of them resonates with me. I love them all. One that stands out in my mind is the ladder for stepping on others never made one taller.
    Fantastic quotes

    ReplyDelete
  23. All of these are excellent!

    My favorite is the last one, because we are always disappointed when our expectations run too high!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I just really like a lot the way these go on and on & from there tinkle something deep-deep down in side, as something is there when you say "The pursuit of "UN"-happiness [underlined with capitals] always succeeds." I really could'v said that myself but someone obviously got there before me. Originally, I didn't come to this blog to learn anything new - but if I did I would'v come here first.

    ReplyDelete
  25. You have about convinced me to retire my blog and refer my readers to you. You epitomize the notion that "An aphorism is a single sentence that completely exhausts its subject." Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Fantastic. Lots of variety to suit different moods. I especially like the "rain falls wherever it pleases" aphorism.

    Thanks,

    Phil

    ReplyDelete
  27. np, this batch of words took longer time for me to swallow and at the end, i love them just as i love those before. thanks for sharing them. brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Love them all. Especially, "When something is done for nothing it's done with the highest purpose in mind." Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  29. "The rain that falls wherever it pleases. I want to be that rain."

    I feel like you wrote that for me.
    The face of the earth is only as expansive as your imagination can fill it. I’m not sure where I am, this place is empty of art and light.

    ReplyDelete
  30. The rain that falls wherever it pleases. I want to be that rain............. i like this one

    ReplyDelete
  31. Good stuff! Keep 'em comming!

    ReplyDelete
  32. "... and the pursuit of happiness never fails", NP! That's what I'm preoccupied over these days. I'll be off again to see my darlings on Valentine's Day. 'Til then! Happy Valentine's Smarty!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hey Marty, like usual I love that they are altogether - they play off each other - and I have a hard time picking out my favorite. I guess that today it must be the one about the ladder!! I can relate.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I think that first line is very profound!

    ReplyDelete
  35. I agree with the first commenter. This line is qutie solid "We write while sleepwalking and revise when awake." Your words make me pause and ponder which is a wonderful thing. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Possibly, "literati-type people" on the razzle get better at aphorisms the more they try to write them, like getting better at riding a bicycle or getting better at making a wagon wheel (if you happen to be a wheelwright) after learning to do it so well it almost becomes instinctive. But however good you get at doing aphorisms, every time, you must always have to find something to say, and if you can't say that, well, you can't make an aphorism without saying something. As in, "Wisdom has learned everything from chance," well, that's really saying something. But as for me, to learn how to become wise, well, I think that the chance would be a fine thing...

    ReplyDelete
  37. My favorite is writing sleepwalkin, revising awake.
    DB

    ReplyDelete
  38. What a great collection of aphorisms. Love them!

    ReplyDelete
  39. I love the skylark one the best, but "One is never wounded by the love one gives, only by the love one expects." is a very close second in my opinion!

    ReplyDelete
  40. When something is done for nothing it's done with the highest purpose in mind...Certainly


    Thank you sooo much not losing touch NP and Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  41. What a treat to see this after coming home from my unplugged vacation.

    ReplyDelete
  42. "Even an inchworm gets where it's going."

    i love this NP. and how come i didn't get an update for this new posting? :(

    keep going and keep us all inspired by your works :)

    ReplyDelete
  43. Beautiful words. You're a talented poet and a brilliant prose writer. cheers! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  44. NP, I pulled my post out of my ass at 6:45 this morning. I am sure it happens to someone every day of the world. Thanks for your comment!
    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  45. ...such thought provoking words... Wow! you have a talent with your expressions and way with words.

    Blessings & Aloha!
    Thank you so much for stopping by...And hopefully you get more opportunities to visit Savannah...What you said is so true...there is still so much of Savannah, that I have yet to discover during the 6 years that we have lived here.

    ReplyDelete
  46. thanks so much for your feedback on my blog, this post is very wise and profound, I think its soemthing I need to carry in my pocket everyday the remind of living life and what its all about. Have you been writing poetry for many years? Ann
    www.31momentsintime.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  47. You know, about letting everything exist...I'm not sure about flu viruses or bed bugs. But, as usual, these maxims are all, with the possible exception of the aforementioned, thought provoking sparks from the old flint. Not only do sail calmly through all waters, but you maintain a consistency that makes me envious.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Chaotically speaking, "Chaos is any order opposed to freedom." Nicely said. I do concur. If only because I can agree with free speech amid the chaos equation.

    ReplyDelete
  49. I have to say, these thoughts of yours are exceptional! My favorite of these is the 'inchworm'...

    Love your work,
    M.

    ReplyDelete
  50. "Wisdom has learned everything from chance." - So satisfying

    ReplyDelete
  51. Awesome as always. The way you form your words makes me think and challenges a lot of my preconceived notions.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Loving your aphorisms and look forward to following your blog. ~ G. Richardson

    ReplyDelete
  53. Precious aphorisms, my favorites are the first and last.

    ReplyDelete
  54. It's not worth staying up all night just to paint masterpieces. - Marty

    True.
    Is not everything..there are OTHERS.

    ReplyDelete
  55. thank u for the comment on my blogpost "crab session "..looking forward to hearing from u soon..by the way, this is such a nice blog =)

    ReplyDelete
  56. it is true that you write from the heart so it reached straight to one's heart,

    few of us are really strange,sadness is there best friend and keeps their soul active and creative,they dont want to just reach somewhere they want to keep walking and consider it life.
    god bless

    ReplyDelete
  57. Sorry the comment above is posted by me but mistakenly from my son's ID.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Thank you for sharing these. Especially love this one, "Wisdom has learned everything from chance." :)

    ReplyDelete
  59. Thx for commentng on my page, it brought me back to your site, which I had lost the link to a while ago. I'm happy to reconnect and read your insights. :) My favorite: 'Even an inchworm gets where it's going.'

    ReplyDelete
  60. I like the thinking I do when I visit your place. The last one is great.

    ReplyDelete
  61. I followed you home from a comment elsewhere. I hope you are ok, and that your challenges lead you more directly to wherever you are going.

    ReplyDelete
  62. all you say makes me think...whether I want to or not! thanks for the thoughts!!...they are profound!!

    ReplyDelete
  63. "The pursuit of unhappiness always succeeds"
    thats the best one....its so true!

    ReplyDelete
  64. I love to read you and this came at the perfect time. xo Thank you for remembering to tap my eyeballs. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  65. Lovely aphorisms as usual Marty! But I didn't get the one about chaos. "Chaos is any order opposed to freedom" - Sounds like any order against freedom means chaos. I think that's it, right? lol. I hope you're well, and please keep penning away your marvelous insights. :)

    ReplyDelete
  66. All this puts nibbles on my knobbles...indeed, I am right satisfied!

    ReplyDelete
  67. You strike me as one has debated often and thought often. Many of your statements are essays, summarized to their purest elements. There are some poems, like the Tide Rises, Longfellow, that I like because what they express cannot be understood in prose. They are more than the sum of their parts, as are many of your statements. Each of these (some culled from your archives) resonates as if I had just read a philosophical discussion:

    Snow is the truth only when it's snowing.

    The spider spinning its web is absorbed, but not self-absorbed.

    The wind was never angry, the rain was never sad.

    Should I refuse the honey because the bee stings?

    The scarecrow has been in the field so long he thinks it belongs to him.

    Build your castle of dreams, but don't live in it.

    The true ladder of success is the one lying on the ground.

    Ideas stand in the corner and laugh while we fight over them.

    The feeling of being unappreciated is a failure to appreciate others.

    Writing is talking to yourself-with the hope of being overheard.

    Sometimes out of sheer perversity reality conforms to my wishes.

    Suppose Hercules had thought about his labors first. Fortunately, for him, he just went out and did them.

    Getting lost is part of getting there.

    Solutions often mask the fact that there is no problem.

    I envy the one simply walking down the road.

    I wasn't in Buffalo when it snowed but it snowed anyway.

    Dreams change the world, but only in dreams.

    I like both: unicorns and horses.

    The leaves on the water, the fog under the bridge. That's what I believe in.

    If it rains tonight, rain will be the cause.

    Happiness exists, but not the conditions of happiness.

    Blessed are they who expect nohing, for they'll be pleasantly surprised.

    If you paint a black picture, the picture will be black.

    Everything is real when it happens and a dream afterwards.

    Reasons are invented, not found.

    We put ourselves through hell and that is hell

    Parrots mimic their owners. Their owners consider that a sign of intelligence.

    A man went in search of one perfect moment. The price he had to pay was the rest of his life.

    When smashing idols, always begin with your own.

    When a thing becomes indispensable it's time to give it up.

    Some of our best decisions aren't decisions.

    Salt-water is and isn't the ocean.

    Time does not pass, it continues.

    To hate everything is to be wounded by everything.

    The little girl riding her bicycle. Never once did she wonder: "Is this worthwhile?"

    You either love what's broken or you don't love.

    The fenced-in dog barks at the one running free.

    It's easier to draw a straight line than to straighten a crooked one.

    All rabbits are not the same rabbit. Just as all Roberts are not the same Robert.

    A few names have survived oblivion. In time oblivion will have them all.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Oh and one more, this one:

    God may be an atheist for all we know.

    I actually wrote a satirical article that had the inverse of this concept as its thesis:

    Earl's God

    ReplyDelete
  69. Hi NP,

    Greetings from Tokyo, Japan.
    Does that ring some bells?

    Today I'm being selfish. I need your profound thoughts, advice and opinion to help me take an important decision. May I request you to respond to my latest post?

    Thank you in advance.

    Cheers,
    Mark

    ReplyDelete