Aphorism of the Day

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.

Neil Postman, in Wisdom and Ignorance and Law and Politics

The most valuable and useful of all talents and abilities is that of never using two words or descriptions when one will do or suffice.

Dr. Squid, in Wisdom and Ignorance

Men like to pursue an elusive woman like a cake of wet soap -- even men who hate baths.

Gelett Burgess, in Men and Women

The heresies we should fear are those which can be confused with orthodoxy.

Jorge Luis Borges, "The Theologians", in Science and Religion

Oliver's Law: Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

Never ask the barber if you need a haircut.

Unknown, in Altruism and Cynicism

The older a man gets, the farther he had to walk to school as a boy.

Unknown, in Life and Death

When a man's wife learns to understand him, she usually stops listening to him.

Unknown, in Men and Women

Intelligence is nothing without delight.

Paul Claudel, in Success and Failure

If someone had told me I would be pope one day, I would have studied harder.

Pope John Paul I, in Success and Failure and Wisdom and Ignorance