Aphorisms Redux

I sometimes suspect that in a former life I was employed by a fortune cookie company. My mind is constantly churning out pithy little profundities that should be encased in a thin sugar-cookie shell...or be tatted on throw pillows by grandmothers everywhere. But actually, I really do like aphorisms and sometimes am rather pleased by (okay, proud of) the ones I come up with. And in this age of Twitter and ever-shortening attention spans, aphorisms deserve far more respect than they get.

I've started making a little collection of my own little bits of wisdom which I would like to share with you here. It's probably best not to try to consume them all at once--too many can have the same effect as eating too many of those little marzipan Peeps at Easter. But I know you won't have the time to keep coming back to this particular spot, so I'll just lay them all out for you to do with as you will. (Royalties are not necessary; credit would be nice.)

Those who scoff at or are dismissive of older people who can no longer do what THEY can do are being blind to their own future.

Falling in love is easy. Having that love reciprocated is not.

Writers spin webs of words to capture passing readers.

Routine is the path of least resistance for daily life.

Egocentrism is a shield behind which those who feel they have nothing much else to offer the world hide.

Life is a winepress. We are grapes.

It isn't that my life doesn't have direction. It's just that I can't read the compass.

We cannot always defeat evil, but we can always refuse let it defeat us.

Thanksgiving is not so much about what we have on our table, but what we have in our heart.

Poetry is to prose as expresso is to coffee.

Expecting altruism to win out over greed is like expecting a chipmunk crossing a railway track to derail a train.

The blind are not swayed by a pretty face.

The mind questions; the heart knows.

The future is fantasy, the past is reality, and now is the infinitely thin line between the two.

Time is like a highway; it's not that the road moves, but that we pass down it far too quickly.

The true value of a gift lies not in a purse or wallet, but the giver's heart.

May the future grant us all the wishes that the past has denied.

Greed has no conscience.

Just because we can never know the answer does not mean we should stop asking questions.

New entries are posted by 10 a.m. Central time every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please come back...and bring a friend. Your comments are always welcome. And you're invited to stop by my website at http://www.doriengrey.com, or drop me a note at doriengrey@gmail.com.