The trouble with self-made men is that they tend to worship their creator. The affections are like lightning: you cannot tell where they will strike till they have fallen. Breakdowns can create breakthroughs. Things fall apart so things can fall together. When somebody gives you a sexy look, you know they're trying. It's terrible! But when you smile, it's so much sexier! It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle it without debate. The trouble with this country is that there are too many people going about saying, ''The trouble with this country is...'' Being is a fiction invented by those who suffer from becoming. Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. What you can't get out of, get into wholeheartedly. The people of England are the most enthusiastic in the world. Perpetual modernness is the measure of merit in every work of art. Beauty is variable, ugliness is constant. The only way to give finality to the world is to give it consciousness. Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash. There are heroes in evil as well as in good. What makes us discontented with our condition is the absurdly exaggerated idea we have of the happiness of others. Beware of silent dogs and still waters. To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old. One should either be sad or joyful. Contentment is a warm sty for eaters and sleepers.
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