“LAW 46
Never Appear Too Perfect
Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.”
― The 48 Laws of Power
Never Appear Too Perfect
Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.”
― The 48 Laws of Power
“He learned to communicate with birds and discovered their conversation was fantastically boring. It was all to do with windspeed, wingspans, power-to-weight ratios and a fair bit about berries.”
― So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
― So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”
―
―
“Let him think that I am more man than I am and I will be so.”
― The Old Man and the Sea
― The Old Man and the Sea
“The rats at the door had gone away. I drank another bottle of wine. To think I was once rich. I once had money. I had everything but something.
I used to think that all people desire to be cared for; some are so used to it that they take it for granted, others, who never feel it, desire it so much that they constantly
need it. So much in fact, that when they don’t receive it they have outbursts, and in the end they wind up pushing away those people who in the end would have cared for them
as their heart desired within its innermost depths. So they are always alone, always on the edge of society, within it, but at the same time, apart from it. They are like spectators
watching with envy the dance of mankind, wishing for that one feeling that only another’s love can bring. A whisper
that speaks to one and only one and says:
“You truly are worth something.”
They never know that feeling that shines on some.
So they cease to expect and begin looking elsewhere for that…wonderful whisper of…
War.
Love almost seems like war.
The ancient Greeks used to say, ‘Love as if you will one day hate.’
I used to think that meant something very
pessimistic, that love was not real.
But really, man is just an animal anyway.
It’s not just about that though, the Greeks meant more. It’s like, ‘Live as if you will one day die.’ Do not take
for granted life, and for the Greeks, do not take for granted your love. After all, it really is something special. Even if it doesn’t last, it’s the moment that matters. How cliché, but
the problem with most men is that they learn words, rather than the concepts that the words signify. And life, death, love, are these not the most important things, those which
a man should learn before all else. And the moment…what of this, even in misery it still matters. But all we learn are words and a way to be.
God I love wine.”
―
I used to think that all people desire to be cared for; some are so used to it that they take it for granted, others, who never feel it, desire it so much that they constantly
need it. So much in fact, that when they don’t receive it they have outbursts, and in the end they wind up pushing away those people who in the end would have cared for them
as their heart desired within its innermost depths. So they are always alone, always on the edge of society, within it, but at the same time, apart from it. They are like spectators
watching with envy the dance of mankind, wishing for that one feeling that only another’s love can bring. A whisper
that speaks to one and only one and says:
“You truly are worth something.”
They never know that feeling that shines on some.
So they cease to expect and begin looking elsewhere for that…wonderful whisper of…
War.
Love almost seems like war.
The ancient Greeks used to say, ‘Love as if you will one day hate.’
I used to think that meant something very
pessimistic, that love was not real.
But really, man is just an animal anyway.
It’s not just about that though, the Greeks meant more. It’s like, ‘Live as if you will one day die.’ Do not take
for granted life, and for the Greeks, do not take for granted your love. After all, it really is something special. Even if it doesn’t last, it’s the moment that matters. How cliché, but
the problem with most men is that they learn words, rather than the concepts that the words signify. And life, death, love, are these not the most important things, those which
a man should learn before all else. And the moment…what of this, even in misery it still matters. But all we learn are words and a way to be.
God I love wine.”
―
Genc’s 2024 Year in Books
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