The Demon Valley Katabasis

- 172 -

2012-01-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

Those who rush to defend unpopular causes usually only enjoy the unpopularity, not the cause.

- 171 -

2012-01-21T14:35:00.002-08:00

Rather than taking pains to refute or distinguish an idiot’s accusation, it is often simpler and far more pleasurable to simply become his Bogeyman.

- 170 -

2012-01-21T14:35:00.001-08:00

Pretension likely evolved as a reaction to the consciousness of how boring one is.

- 169 -

2011-11-25T22:23:00.001-08:00

Few fallacies are as vulgar as the conviction that equates one’s right with one’s will. The first step in self-education is to be able to dissociate injustice from not getting one’s way.

- 168 -

2011-11-23T23:52:00.001-08:00

One who desires honors and titles is one who desires to be esteemed by concepts rather than men.

- 167 -

2011-11-15T18:07:00.001-08:00

Any man who bears a cross assumes that he must therefore be a Messiah.

- 166 -

2011-11-15T18:03:00.001-08:00

On Political Theodicy—Religion and government both seek to answer the problem of evil, but religion does so in order to justify God to man, while government does so in order to justify man to himself.

- 165 -

2011-10-22T00:51:00.002-07:00

By a certain age, we should change names and hide out somewhere, lost to the world, in no danger of seeing friends or enemies again, leading the peaceful life of an overworked malefactor.
(Cioran)

Imagine the advantage one could obtain by letting society lie fallow for a year in order to replenish next year’s crop!

- 164 -

2011-10-22T00:50:00.000-07:00

Given that Reason is such a frail little thing, it makes those who would butcher it seem all the more monstrous.

- 163 -

2011-10-13T00:27:00.002-07:00

A century of continental philosophy has left us with words that mean nothing, and a century of analytic philosophy has left us with languages that mean anything.

- 162 -

2011-10-13T00:26:00.001-07:00

Women possess a delight in mundanity that among men is reserved solely for Chinese sages and imbeciles.

- 161 -

2011-09-28T23:17:00.002-07:00

I will happily admit that any number of things are lesser evils—provided that you will not forget that a lesser evil is still evil.

- 160 -

2011-09-28T23:17:00.001-07:00

A university education may actually be the worst form of provincialism because it limits one’s horizons to a land that does not exist.

- 159 -

2011-09-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

Genus and Species—Knowing the mold of a man’s character is almost the same as knowing what he will fill it in with.

- 158 -

2011-09-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

The self is the knot that ties the world together.

- 157 -

2011-09-05T22:42:00.001-07:00

Democracy is the idea that proper governance can be divined from bumper stickers and rock songs.

- 156 -

2011-09-04T10:58:00.001-07:00

Reason is properly referred to as a sort of “crown” of humanity because it is the faculty that men use to dress up their petty hatreds.

- 155 -

2011-09-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

A woman’s vanity thwarts her ambition; a man’s vanity is his ambition.

- 154 -

2011-09-01T20:12:00.001-07:00

Today it is highly unfashionable to offer a grand explanation of things. Instead it is popular to offer a grand explanation of the inexplicability of things.

- 153 -

2011-08-31T09:20:00.001-07:00

Every so-called social science should be spurned as the bastard child of Positivism that it is.

- 152 -

2011-08-28T22:29:00.001-07:00

Much like certain animal species, some friendships can only survive if left in isolation from one another. But when one has befriended two enemies, one wonders whether he has really befriended either.

- 151 -

2011-08-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

If it is true that a woman thinks more than a man does, then it is mitigated by the fact that she only thinks about herself.

- 150 -

2011-08-21T21:33:00.001-07:00

Most men enjoy having opinions, but very few enjoy having thoughts.