Ruin, eldest daughter of Zeus, she blinds us all, that fatal madness—she with those delicate feet of hers, never touching the earth, gliding over the heads of men to trap us all. She entangles one man, now another.
The honied tongue hath its poison.
The circumstances of others seem good to us, while ours seem good to others.
It is folly to fear what cannot be avoided.
Ready tears are a sign of treachery, not of grief
Gain at the expense of reputation is manifest loss.
Practice is the best of all instructors.
A lawyer without books would be like a workman without tools.
Writing down your thoughts is both necessary and harmful. It leads to eccentricity, narcissism, preserves what should be let go. On the other hand, these notes intensify the inner life, which, left unexpressed, slips through your fingers. If only I could find a better kind of journal, humbler, one that would preserve the same thoughts, the same flesh of life, which is worth saving.
. . . Luddites were those frenzied traditionalists of the early 19th century who toured [England] wrecking new weaving machines on the theory that if they were destroyed. . . old jobs and old ways of life could be preserved. . . At certain times in his life each man is tempted to become a Luddite, for there is always something he would like to go back to. But to be against all change-against change in the abstract-is folly.
My mantra is "Better is better".