“Happiness is lost by criticizing it; sorrow by accepting it.” — Ambrose Bierce

“There are very few things which we know, which are not capable of being reduc’d to a Mathematical Reasoning; and when they cannot it’s a sign our knowledge of them is very small and confus’d; and when a Mathematical Reasoning can be had it’s as great a folly to make use of any other, as to grope for a thing in the dark, when you have a Candle standing by you.” — John Arbuthnot, Of the Laws of Chance, 1692

More maxims of La Rochefoucauld:

• “We should often be ashamed of our best Actions, if the world saw all their Motives.”
• “If we had no Faults ourselves, we should not take such Pleasure in observing those of others.”
• “The Reason we are so angry with such as trick us is, because they think they have more Wit than we.”
• “There are Heroes in Ill, as well as in Good.”
• “There are People who are disagreeable with great Merit; and others who with great Faults are agreeable.”
• “We easily forget Crimes that are known to none but ourselves.”
• “To judge of Love by most of its Effects, one would think it more like Hatred than Kindness.”
• “Our Merit procures us the Esteem of Men of Sense, and our Fortune that of the Public.”
• “Narrowness of Mind is the Cause of Obstinacy; and we don’t easily believe beyond what we see.”
• “Quarrels would not last long if the Fault was but on one Side.”
• “We are not able to act up to our Reason.”
• “Men are oftener treacherous through Weakness than Design.”
• “Our Self-love bears with less Patience the Condemnation of our Tastes, than of our Opinions.”
• “We are almost always tired with the Company of those whom we ought not to be tired of.”
• “The Mind, thro’ Laziness and Constancy, fixes on what is easy or agreeable to it. This Habit bounds our Knowledge; and no Man has ever given himself the trouble to extend and carry his Genius as far as it was capable of going.”

And “Few People are well-acquainted with Death. ‘Tis generally submitted to thro’ Stupidity and Custom, not Resolution; and most Men die merely because they can’t help it.”

“I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some day die, which is not so.” — Stephen Leacock

“I can’t recall who first pointed out that the word ‘explain’ means literally to ‘flatten out.'” — Philip Slater

Proverbs from around the world:

• A pretty basket does not prevent worries. (Congo)
• Good painters need not give a name to their pictures; bad ones must. (Poland)
• Sickness comes riding on horseback and goes away on foot. (Belgium)
• The spectator is a great hero. (Afghanistan)
• Those who have to go ten miles must regard nine as only halfway. (Germany)
• The world is dark an inch ahead. (Japan)
• Those who place their ladder too steeply will easily fall backward. (Czech Republic)
• All the wealth of the world is in the weather. (Scotland)
• Those whose mother is naked are not likely to clothe their aunt. (Sudan)
• To be in the habit of no habit is the worst habit in the world. (Wales)
• What is bad luck for one is good luck for another. (Ghana)
• Good luck is the guardian of the stupid. (Sweden)
• A change is as good as a rest. (England)
• Good scribes are not those who write well, but who erase well. (Russia)
• There is no such thing as a pretty good omelette. (France)
• Of all the thirty-six alternatives, running away is the best. (China)

“If I don’t know I don’t know, I think I know. If I don’t know I know, I think I don’t know.” — R.D. Laing