You are no liars, I am a liar.
A friend replied with the following statement — and only this statement — to a postcard I had sent:
For me, this simply is not enough.
I assume that when he wrote it, or at least shortly before, the statement was true. Or believed to be true. And whatever he is referring to, it made him write this very reply.
This simply is quite something. Let alone a hell of a lot.
And it could not be unless the statement was a lie. Simply a lie.
Thanks my friend.
A local advertisement company is currently running a campaign where they print quotes on big posters at public places (Zeit für ein Zitat 2007). One the quotes repeatedly caught my attention on my way home:
Freedom’s other name is responsibility.
— Thomas Mann
Well done, Thomas. And thanks for the entertainment. It was a two corner walk until I saw the lie within.
P.S.: The original German quote is: Der Freiheit anderer Name heißt Verantwortung. I could not find any other reference of it. So, who knows, maybe Thomas Mann never said or wrote it anyway.
A friend just told me a wonderful story of today’s after lunch coffee klatch. They were cutting apart a longish piece of pastry (a Nußstangerl) and had a little talking about who prefers ends and who likes middle parts more. There she said she didn’t like ends, she would prefer beginnings.
Go ahead!
When ecologists advertise their recommendations to save the world this often appears to me like young lovers who are enjoying a diverse sex life but who rarely practice safe sex.
And they think that if they used condoms more often the chance of catching STDs is decreased. In fact, it is (if we trust their numbers), nevertheless, they are probably already spreading their disease.
Are oracles always telling the truth? — I don’t know, but Aapo Puskala‘s On-line Oracle does tell the truth as one of my recent conversations reveal:
Me: Dear Oracle, are you lying sometimes?
Oracle: Usually I’m not, but right now I surely am.
rattus rattus is not getting tired of adding to his life (and blog) this most serious statement:
Parody! Not to be taken seriously!
ik (anyway wittily) asked:
Is it a parody that you are not to be taken seriously or are you a parody which is not to be taken seriously or….? :))
After all, the parody is parody. — Not just trivially, also seriously.
Of course, the phrase is part of the parody — and as such — it is seriously not to be taken seriously either.
Serious as in law suit or getting shot. As the man, who signed many of his illustrations with this very phrase, knew so well.
What’s really wrong with most people is hey take life too seriously.
— Larry Flynt
If this is part of your life (don’t) take it too seriously. Or be wrong.
63
Act without doing;
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.The Master never reaches for the great;
thus she achieves greatness.
When she runs into a difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn’t cling to her own comfort;
thus problems are no problem for her.— Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching. Translation by Stephen Mitchell.
Translations of the Tao Te Ching are widely debated, see the Wikipedia’s article. The Xenophon Library offers line by line comparisons of several translations, including chapter 63. The title of this entry is taken from Lin Yutang’s translation.
