Nation & Nature

No country can ever defend itself
Against what human nature
Will ultimately do to it.
12.01.12

Life & Equality

We are equalized at three life stations:
At birth, at death, and at voting.
11.30.12

Sublime & Reality

When I fall in love with a sublime idea
I also know that it is a fantasy;
There is nothing sublime about reality.
11.29.12

Faults & Others

To acknowledge one’s own faults takes courage;
To judge the faults of others takes hubris.
11.28.12

Politics & Country

A politician must choose between pleasing the masses
Or serving his country’s present and future interests.
11.27.12

Politics & Ethics

There is no idealism in politics
And no politics in idealism;
For ethics allows not negotiations
Whereas in politics, everything is negotiable.
11.25.12

Belief & Evidnece

Belief is more emotional than rational
And thus most of us believe
What we want to believe
Regardless of evidence;
This defect in our mental wiring
Often begets disastrous consequences.
11.24.12

Surprised & Rational

We are most surprised whenever we presume
That most people are rational.
11.23.12

Memories & Pain

The memory for pain exceeds the memory for joy;
We remember injustices, losses, insults, abuses
Forget favors, grants, and God’s fortunes
And once we see someone’s bad side
We forget his good sides.
11.22.12

Enlightenment & Disenlightenment

Great nations
Rise with enlightenment
And decline with dis-enlightenment.
11.21.12

Writing & Instinct

The yearning to write is instinctive;
There is a writer in everyone of us.
11.20.12

Life & Struggle

Life is a struggle
A struggle against life
Not against death.
11.19.12

Urges & World

As individuals and as a race
If we could only control our urges
The world would become a better place.
11.18.12

Great & Grave

Great men
Are the progeny
Of grave times.
11.17.12

Stories & Data

Stories hover on high clouds
Until they are shot down
By facts.
11.16.12

Ideas & Birth

All new ideas
Come from the wombs
Of older ones.
11.15.12

Observation & Details

Our powers of observation
Miss many significant details
Regardless of effort or training.
11.14.12

Age & Death

To manage age
Ignore it and go on
As if there is no death.
11.13.12

Violence & Primitiveness

Violence is primitive and is mainly utilized
By those spiritually & intellectually bankrupt.
11.12.12

Freedom & Sloth

The six diseases
Of unfettered freedom
Affluence, and security are:
Family breakdown, damaged childhood
Sloth, entitlement, addiction, and obesity.
11.11.12

Opinions & Vows

Opinions are vows
And we have to live
With their consequences.
11.10.12

Killing & Justice

We tend to forgive and forget
When we kill each other
During our civil wars;
But we don’t forget or forgive
When we’re unjustly killed by others.
11.09.12

Opportunities & Time

Many opportunities
Perceived as ephemeral
Are lost in the waiting
For better opportunities
That never materialize.
11.08.12

Beauty & Notice

Beauty unnoticed
Withers without impact.
11.07.12

Inside & Outside

Concentrating on our inside world
Instead of on the outside world
Is the shortest means to joy.
11.06.12

Wisdom & Future

Wisdom is skeptical;
It peers into the future
Before making up its mind.
11.05.12

Greatness & Power

In earthly matters
Greatness and power
Tend to be mutually exclusive;
What is powerful cannot also be great
And what is great cannot also be powerful.
Thus Alexander cannot also be Homer
Churchill cannot also be Shakespeare
And Caesar cannot also be Dante.
11.04.12

Interaction & Seclusion

Good ideas
Come with interaction
And diminish with seclusion.
11.03.12

Time & Wasting

Wasting time is doubly harmful;
It robs both the present and the future
Of life’s infinite potentials.
11.02.12