Aphorisms and Observations – Page 53

Moral Failure

Repeated moral failure has at least this salutary effect: it teaches us to be humble. Moral success can have the opposite effect of conducing toward spiritual pride — which undermines the very success of which it is the upshot. So, while regretting one's failures, one can derive a little consolation from the realization that they are contributing to one's humility.

On Praise

We do not like to be praised if (a) the praiser is beneath us; (b) what is praised is something insignificant or common; (c) the praise is insincere, perhaps by having an ulterior motive; (d) the praise is mistaken in that we lack the excellence attributed to us.

Particularly annoying is to be praised for something insignificant while one's actual virtues go unappreciated. So be careful in your bestowal of praise: take care that you do not offend the one you hope to flatter.

Life’s Chess

The opening is hopeful and the middle game absorbing. But then comes a series of checks culminating in mate.

Immortality

Which is better: to inquire whether there is immortality, or to live in such a way as to deserve it? Both are good, but the second is better.

Stumbling Block or Stepping Stone?

One man's stumbling block is another's stepping stone. The philosopher, the believer, the cross.

The Highest Mastery

The highest mastery is self-mastery, and the highest self-mastery is thought-mastery. He who controls his thoughts controls the seeds of words and deeds.

(Not) Another Aphorism

You actually
Crawled out of bed
Compromising your rest
To write down another
Of your
Wretched aphorisms?

Happiness

Not all of our happiness is made by thought, but a good deal of it is — a fact to make one happy.

Politicization and Hypostatization

Something that in its very nature is political cannot be politicized. (Example here.) Similarly, that which in its mode of being is substantial cannot be hypostatized or reified. Hypostatization is illicit reification.

No Man a Hero to His Valet

No man is a hero to his valet, but some are to their wives.

On Aphorisms, Aphoristically

A good aphorism is the tip of an iceberg of thought. One gets the point but is spared the substantiation.

Philosophize We Must

Philosophize we must and philosophize we will. The only question is whether well or ill.

On Taking Principles to Extremes

That a principle can be taken to an extreme is no argument against the principle so taken. It is rather an argument against extremism. The principle that one has the right to keep and bear arms, for example, is not refuted by the fact that some will take it to mean that one has the right to keep and 'bear' tactical nukes. Similarly in other cases.