Smart Stuff

The goal of all inanimate objects is to resist man and ultimately to defeat him.
Russell Baker
Inanimate objects are classified scientifically into three major categories - those that don’t work, those that break down and those that get lost.
Russell Baker
Things have their laws as well as men, and things refuse to be trifled with.
Ralph […]

Obscenity is whatever gives a judge an erection. Anon
Obscenity is what happens to shock some elderly and ignorant magistrate.
Bertrand Russell

Not a day passes over the earth, but men and women of no note do great deeds,
speak great words and suffer noble sorrows.
Charles Reade

To become the spectator of one’s own life is to escape the suffering of life.
Oscar Wilde

As we grow old we slowly come to believe that everything will turn out badly for
us, and that failure is in the nature of things; but then we do not much mind what happens to us one way or the other.
Isak Dinensen
An old goat is never the more reverend for his beard.
Thomas Fuller
An old man […]

I do not mind what language an opera is sung in, so long as it is a language I don’t understand.
Sir Edward Victor Appleton
No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling
sensible.
W. H. Auden
The genuine music-lover may accept the carnal husk of opera to get at the […]

Obstinate people can be divided into the opinionated, the ignorant, and the
boorish.
Aristotle
The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind. William Blake
The simple realization that there are other points of view is the beginning of
wisdom. Understanding what they are is a great step. The final test […]

The best you get is an even break. Anon
It is a good idea to take things as they come - if you can handle them that fast.
Sig Arno
As many as 100 pearls have been found in a single oyster.
L. M. Boyd
Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind.
Bulgarian Proverb
An optimist sees an […]

I don’t want to own anything that won’t fit into my coffin.
Fred Allen
To pretend to satisfy one’s desires by possession is like using straw to put out a fire.
Chinese Proverb
A pig that has two owners is sure to die of hunger.
English Proverb
Mine is better than ours.
Benjamin Franklin
I would rather be able to appreciate things […]

What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.
Raymond Aron
Optimism approves of everything, submits to everything, believes everything; it
is the virtue above all of the taxpayer.
George Bernanos
Optimism: The doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is
ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong.
Ambrose […]