Aphorism of the Day

The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.

Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, in Success and Failure and Work and Recreation

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.

E. F. Schumacher, in Science and Religion and Wisdom and Ignorance

It is people who live by the rules that are always hoping to get them changed.

Robert Harbison, in Law and Politics

Frequent punishments are always a sign of weakness or laziness on the part of a government.

Jean Jacques Rousseau, in Law and Politics

I advise you to go on living solely to enrage those who are paying your annuities. It is the only pleasure I have left.

Voltaire, in Happiness and Misery

He who thinks he is raising a mound may only in reality be digging a pit.

Ernest Bramah, in Success and Failure

That which is static and repetitive is boring. That which is dynamic and random is confusing. In between lies art.

John A. Locke, sometimes incorrectly attributed to John Locke, in Science and Religion

An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject and how to avoid them.

Werner Heisenberg, in Wisdom and Ignorance

The gods gave man fire and he invented fire engines. They gave him love and he invented marriage.

Unknown, in Love and Hate

If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.

Bertrand Russell, in Work and Recreation