Mason Cooley

Sacred or not, sacrifice is an ugly business.

— Mason Cooley

Intelligence without power cannibalizes itself.

— Mason Cooley

A blunt statement can be as false as any other.

— Mason Cooley

Aphorisms know the angles, but not the structure.

— Mason Cooley

If you should ever acknowledge my existence, I plan to snub you.

— Mason Cooley

Disobedient parents are a great trouble to their children.

— Mason Cooley

Antagonistic cooperation is the principle of all markets and many marriages.

— Mason Cooley

I create my social existence by earning and spending.

— Mason Cooley

Errors are more numerous than truths, but fortunately too divided among themselves to take power.

— Mason Cooley

The squabbles of philandering Zeus and shrewish Hera are the Greeks' comment on married life.

— Mason Cooley

Old among the young, poor among the rich, I adopt an air of indefinable superiority.

— Mason Cooley

Idleness makes people feeble and peevish. Work makes them stalwart and prone to anger.

— Mason Cooley

A suburb is an attempt to get out of reach of the city without having the city be out of reach.

— Mason Cooley

I am often attracted to people with whom I could not hold a five minute conversation.

— Mason Cooley

The closeups of pornography make human genitals look like undiscovered prehistoric animals.

— Mason Cooley

I am now old enough to make common cause with my predecessors against my successors.

— Mason Cooley

I am skeptical in principle, gullible in practice.

— Mason Cooley

Which is the supplement? Fantasy or daily routine?

— Mason Cooley

Theory can leave questions unanswered, but practice has to come up with something.

— Mason Cooley

The limits of prudence: one cannot jump out of a burning building gradually.

— Mason Cooley

You know you're in love when you stop comparing.

— Mason Cooley

Denial of one appetite sharpens the others.

— Mason Cooley

My regimen is lust and avarice for exercise, gluttony and sloth for relaxation.

— Mason Cooley

Consciousness is our only reprieve from Time.

— Mason Cooley

Cynicism is full of naive disappointments.

— Mason Cooley

Undecidability is a useful category even in dealing with restaurant menus.

— Mason Cooley

I like what I do for a living. I also like NOT doing it--perhaps even more.

— Mason Cooley

Thrift is an attractive idea until you get down to specifics.

— Mason Cooley

Nobody likes to offer stupidity as an excuse.

— Mason Cooley

Stutters and snorts are meaningful but not usually referential.

— Mason Cooley

My noisy denunciation trails off in doubt.

— Mason Cooley

Comedy is hostile to profundity, and brings everything to the surface.

— Mason Cooley

Complainers rule out happiness, mentioning it only as something lost.

— Mason Cooley

Bravery despite defeat is praiseworthy. Victory despite cowardice is beyond praise.

— Mason Cooley

The great advantage of a new friend is that we have not yet found one another out.

— Mason Cooley

Violence stops thought. Hence its popularity as a pain-killer.

— Mason Cooley

A real idea keeps changing and appears in many places.

— Mason Cooley

To gain a reputation for virtue, grieve over those you injure.

— Mason Cooley

I am invigorated by work, wasted by pleasure.

— Mason Cooley

Old and young disbelieve one another's truths.

— Mason Cooley