Mason Cooley

Death is frightening, and so is Eternal Life.

— Mason Cooley

Pursuit of the approximate can conclude. Not so pursuit of the absolute.

— Mason Cooley

Observe decorum, and it will open a path to morality.

— Mason Cooley

Until I am ready to lose weight, I cannot see how fat I am.

— Mason Cooley

Consensus is usually made possible by vague language and shallow commitments.

— Mason Cooley

Thought maps existence; fantasy colors it.

— Mason Cooley

Rage against the world, if you like, but quietly, or the Guardians will awake.

— Mason Cooley

There is a line between a definite maybe and an indefinite yes.

— Mason Cooley

Great men wait for the right moment to abandon caution. The rest of us abandon it when impatience becomes too much for…

— Mason Cooley

Psychology keeps trying to vindicate human nature. History keeps undermining the effort.

— Mason Cooley

Pessimists fear becoming the dupes of Hope. Optimists enjoy Hope's company, and consider being duped no great matter.

— Mason Cooley

Alone, I am satisfied with myself. With others, I am beset by troubling comparisons.

— Mason Cooley

In ethics, prudence is not an important virtue, but in the world it is almost everything.

— Mason Cooley

Old photograph: amid the set poses of her family, a young girl smiles and raises her hand a little.

— Mason Cooley

Early every morning an old woman goes to the market to curse a grocery clerk, who curses back.

— Mason Cooley

Courage, determination, and hard work are all very nice, but not so nice as an oil well in the back yard.

— Mason Cooley

Our most important decisions are made while we are thinking about something else.

— Mason Cooley

Self-hatred and self-love are equally self-centered.

— Mason Cooley

Every work of art changes its predecessors.

— Mason Cooley

My strengths make me contemptuous. My weaknesses make me charitable.

— Mason Cooley

I must like my profession, since I can hardly distinguish myself from it.

— Mason Cooley

Sexual attraction keeps throwing self-interest off course.

— Mason Cooley

The best hand always believes in playing by the rules.

— Mason Cooley

Lovers remain in the dark, working hard to keep out daylight.

— Mason Cooley

Under attack, sentiments harden into dogma.

— Mason Cooley

Magic trick: to make people disappear, ask them to fulfill their promises.

— Mason Cooley

The more learned a writer, the more digression beckons him.

— Mason Cooley

Technique bridges among ideas, and sometimes generates them.

— Mason Cooley

“Reading gives us someplace to go when we must stay where we are.”

— Mason Cooley

I am the center of the world, but the control panel seems to be somewhere else.

— Mason Cooley

Sweet smiles soften judgment. Sweet haunches unseat it.

— Mason Cooley

The power of lying is much less than the power of what is not to be discussed.

— Mason Cooley

I am plain-speaking out of both sides of my mouth.

— Mason Cooley

At sixty, I would like to give my future back its vistas of uncertainty.

— Mason Cooley

To be fulfilled, a prophecy needs lots of flexibility.

— Mason Cooley

With age, the mind grows slower and more wily.

— Mason Cooley

Clouds of flavors and savors float around the thing-in-itself.

— Mason Cooley

Once wealth and beauty are gone, there is always rural life.

— Mason Cooley

As I review my life, I feel I must have missed the point, either then or now.

— Mason Cooley

Failures are easier to repeat than successes.

— Mason Cooley