Aphorism of the Day

Having nothing, nothing can he lose.

William Shakespeare, Henry VI, in Wealth and Poverty

A man is a critic when he cannot be an artist, in the same way that a man becomes an informer when he cannot be a soldier.

Gustave Flaubert, in Art and Literature

Law of Probability Dispersal: Whatever it is that hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

Once you've accumulated sufficient knowledge to get by, you're too old to remember it.

Unknown, in Wisdom and Ignorance

My hands are free, but my mind hesitates.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

Mark Twain, in Vice and Virtue

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

Henry David Thoreau, in Law and Politics

The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.

David Friedman, in War and Peace

I didn't like the play. But I saw it under unfavorable circumstances -- the curtains were up.

Groucho Marx, in Art and Literature

Before God we are all equally wise -- and equally foolish.

Albert Einstein, in Wisdom and Ignorance