Wisdom of the Sphinx
(With thanks to Matthew Stover.)
- You are your gift and you can’t give you back.
- Resign yourself to your situation, and console yourself that it is only temporary.
- The final gate is merely the midpoint for the Seeker who passes through.
- The only way to reach what you desire is not to care if you make it there.
- Seek what will take you the rest of the way.
- Start in the middle and work your way outwards from there.
- There is no Power save Desire.
- Happiness is a betrayal of Desire.
- Desire only gets in your way.
- When courage transcends discomfort, pain is merely treatment.
- Become who you are; deny who you know.
- Note facts without consideration of coincidence or teleology.
- The opposite of Existence is not Non–Existence; it is Insistence.
- Reality is not what we want. It is what is.
- Illusions deceive only those who think not, nor know how, to look for them.
- Reality bears no relevance.
- Perception means everything.
- When confronted with something you do not understand, do not dismiss it as irrelevant, misconstructed or damaged.
- Inveigh not against the pointed daggers of Truth.
- To convey Truth, create Illusion.
- Be as open and innocent as you can conspire to display.
- A thorny union of Truth and Honesty births graceful Flattery.
- Truth is, after all, solely Fact.
- Know the abstract and see the specific. Comprehend the difference.
- The measure of Character lies not in how powerful you are, but in how you use the power you have.
- Taunting the helpless is the province of the unfit.
- Manners cost nothing, yet their values outshines even gold.
- Manners are derided by those who have none, education by the ignorant, refinement by the coarse, and intellect by the stupid.
- Patience is not Virtue, Patience is nature.
- Do not expect; allow for the possibility.
- See the future, not with prescience, but with experience.
- Blessèd are those who break the rules.
- A brief inspection reveals faults and fissures.
- Take a moment or two to refine your responses in your head before letting them pass your lips.
- Show others one thing they have never seen, and remind them of two things they already know.
- One answer resolves three questions.
- When one is made of glass, everything looks like a stone. This does not serve as a commentary on courage.
- Creation transcends creator.
- Experience discomfort without attempting to ease it.
- Pain is simply an artefact of construction.
- Analgesic treatment will only hasten your demise.
- ‘Yes’ is the word to everything — to imprisonment, to torture, to death and destruction.
- Your veto power is limited by circumstance.
- Beweep, then embrace, the unalterable. Then arise with wisdom.
- The Arrow of Time pinpoints us all.
- There are no maps, and there is no reliable measure of distance.
- The ability to choose between realities can disconnect you from all of them.
- Can is not synonymous with will.
- When creation falls, build anew.
- Reliability is a measure of superior design.
- Mercy is the greatest Virtue.
- Do not forgive.
- Intellect is the only useful weapon.
- Appreciate the power of precisely applied violence.
- Blood vendettas are of use to no–one but your enemies.
- It is never a question of whether you are paranoid, it is a question of whether you are paranoid enough.
- Mere insanity is not enough to impeach one’s account.
- Evil unchallenged? Evil sanctioned!
- Liberty requires not only effort, but great risk too.
- Not everyone willingly embraces Liberty.
- Some view their fetters of subjugation as protective armour.
- Suffering is not a Virtue.
- ‘Yes’ is the word to everything — to liberty, to harmony, to peace and construction.
- Even doing nothing represents an active choice.
- You cannot win if someone lost. Never.
- The only appropriate stance is unconditional solidarity with all victims.
- Dwelling on failure gives rise to diversion, distraction, and moulds an excuse to lose.
- A riddle is nothing more than a trap. A trap for small minds. A trap baited with the promise of understanding.
- What if I am insane?
- What if I am insane but also right?
- Departure, be cut shorter. Exit.
