Aphorisms
“An aphorism is a concise, terse, laconic, and/or memorable expression of a general truth or principle”.
What follows is a collection of aphorisms I’ve been working on for a few months now (some of which might be familiar to you).
Some of them are provocative, though I didn’t intend them to be that way. I went out in search of interesting things and as it turns out, some of the most interesting things are precisely the things nobody wants to say. Go figure.
Most people intentionally filter themselves because they don’t want be crucified by a mob on CNN. Understandable. I don’t either. But in the process, their writing loses some heat.
I think that’s a rather boring world to live in. And one I certainly hold in high contempt.
So let’s change that.
This newsletter is a safe space for controversial ideas.
And what follows is me saying what I think.
Enjoy.
I’m more of a comedian than a philosopher, but sometimes the two overlap.
Today the high priests call themselves “the rational”, instead of “the anointed”.
Parenthesis are like soft whispers (a secret told behind closed doors).
An atheist is often just an angry Christian.
“I’m not in the mood” is sometimes code for “You need to turn me on.”
Women who don’t want children often just don’t want their partner’s children.
Some women boss men around secretly hoping their turn will come one day too.
The older a problem is, the more it benefits from book reading.
Building software often involves solving very new problems: Minimal book reading, maximal hard thinking.
Learning how to code isn’t nearly as useful as controlling people who know how to code.
There’s a special place in hell for grammar books.
Teachers tell students to work hard, but never wonder if they just suck at teaching.
People often wonder if I’m antisocial — they never wonder if they’re just not that interesting.
If you’re careful and articulate the truth, without ego and without an ulterior motive, you’re gonna piss people off.
The Pope: A man who’s hidden himself from life’s misfortune and ecstasy.
Boredom is a sign your life lacks a certain level of randomness.
The more an author talks about his wife, the more likely he is to get a divorce.
A heuristic for when you should write an essay:
You constantly talk about the same idea from slightly different perspectives.
Big cities attract the tail ends of the distribution curve.
From time to time you should try to move things with your mind, just so you never get too comfortable with what the experts say.
History never repeats. Human nature does.
Books are a record of problems other people solved a long time ago.
Men are rarely as noble as their ideas.
Focus comes naturally when risk is involved.
Scientific papers are a poor substitute for thinking.
Childhood interests aren’t the only interests you’ll have in life, but they’re a pretty good place to start.
People worry about smartphones and news, but rarely consider whether mirrors and clocks were a good idea too.
Clocks are a good way of organizing large groups of people — terrible way to organize your soul.
What men lack in imagination, they make up for in excess precision.
Deciding what not to do is often more helpful than deciding what you should do.
Specialization is overrated. Master many narrow niches.
“Productivity” is often code for: “How do I make myself do things I don’t want to do?”
It’s important to follow a diverse group of thinkers if you never learned to think for yourself.
A man’s philosophy is often just an excuse for his personality.
Men work hard on the wrong problems and call it progress.
The greater the competition, the more of a specialist you have to become to survive.
Women can’t help but admire confidence in a man, even if he’s a bit of an asshole.
Every woman is a masochist — every male, a quiet sadist.
There’s no equality in the bedroom.
Someone always leads.
If a woman hates you, you’re about two steps away from sleeping with her.
Eye contact : The natural aphrodisiac between humans.
Women often believe if a man is confident, it’s because he’s slept with a lot of women.
The whole enterprise of higher education relies on making people solve imaginary problems.
Never let the circumstances of your life dictate the pace at which you grow.
The State should be like God: Rarely intervening in the affairs of men.
A person who thinks for themself will have a combination of opinions you’ve never seen before.