Aphorism of the Day

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, in Science and Religion and Wisdom and Ignorance

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

Albert Einstein, in Science and Religion

I am not sincere, even when I say I am not.

Jules Renard, in Vice and Virtue

Love: A temporary insanity cureable either by marriage or by removal of the influences under which he incurred the disorder. It is sometimes fatal, but more frequently to the physician than the patient.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in Love and Hate

By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell -- and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed.

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, in Altruism and Cynicism

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.

Nikita Khrushchev, in Law and Politics

Wisdom and beauty form a very rare combination

Petronius Arbiter, The Satyricon, XCIV, in Wisdom and Ignorance

It's better to be an authentic loser than a false success, and to die alive than to live dead.

William Markiewicz, Extracts of Existence, in Success and Failure

A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation.

H. H. Munro, in Law and Politics

The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.

Casey Stengal, in Success and Failure