Wisdom of the Sphinx

(With thanks to Matthew Stover.)

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