--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The ironies in the commonplace are my…" description: "\"The ironies in the commonplace are my inspiration and delight.\" — Mason Cooley" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d8/mason-cooley-92_commonplace_the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-in_2072086.png" --- # The ironies in the commonplace are my inspiration and… ![“The ironies in the commonplace are my inspiration and delight.” quote by Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d8/mason-cooley-92_commonplace_the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-in_2072086.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d8/mason-cooley-92_commonplace_the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-in_2072086.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d8/mason-cooley-92_commonplace_the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-in_2072086.png) > “The ironies in the commonplace are my inspiration and delight.” [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Finding humor and insight in everyday contradictions fuels creative thought. **In simple terms:** Every contradictions inspire delight. Key Takeaway Seek inspiration in daily ironies. Themes creativity humor observation Mood playful thoughtful Type epigram observational When to use this quote - writing - teaching - problem solving - daily reflection Key Concepts Epigrammatic wit paradox Questions to Reflect On - How do ordinary contradictions spark ideas? - What daily irony am I missing? A Different Perspective May overlook deeper issues behind trivialities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Delight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delight/) [Inspiration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspiration/) [Irony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/irony/) [Joy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joy/) ## Related quotes > [I've always been a sci-fi geek, and I've always loved it. It's my favorite genre of all. The irony of ironies is that, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/remi-aubuchon/i-ve-always-been-a-sci-fi-geek-and-i-ve-always-loved-it-it-s-my/) [Remi Aubuchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/remi-aubuchon/) > [Life is full of ironies and absurdities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-west/life-is-full-of-ironies-and-absurdities/) [Adam West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-west/) > [I try very hard to be fair, and I look for ironies. In a way, I live on ironies as a novelist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-stone/i-try-very-hard-to-be-fair-and-i-look-for-ironies-in-a-way-i-live-on/) [Robert Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-stone/) > [Life is full of ironies and paradoxes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hurt/life-is-full-of-ironies-and-paradoxes/) [John Hurt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hurt/) > [“The ironies of her ignorance were sometimes too hard to bear.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-harrington/the-ironies-of-her-ignorance-were-sometimes-too-hard-to-bear/) [Rebecca Harrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-harrington/) > [“Ironies were like secrets: unshared they died.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/ironies-were-like-secrets-unshared-they-died/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [Comedy defends the commonplace; tragedy explodes it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/comedy-defends-the-commonplace-tragedy-explodes-it/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [After all, the commonplaces are the great poetic truths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/after-all-the-commonplaces-are-the-great-poetic-truths/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [Ever since childhood I have scorned the commonplace limits so often set upon human ambition. Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury - to me these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/ever-since-childhood-i-have-scorned-the-commonplace-limits-so-often/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [To be original is to discover the commonplace of a thousand years--to face at first the sneer that no one would have thought of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stanley-lee/to-be-original-is-to-discover-the-commonplace-of-a-thousand-years-to/) [Gerald Stanley Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stanley-lee/) > [Funerals and weddings were commonplace, and nothing could have been so interesting to them as the coming of the end of the world ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-eggleston/funerals-and-weddings-were-commonplace-and-nothing-could-have-been-so/) [Edward Eggleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-eggleston/) > [Security is a component of everyday life that one spending time in Washington, D.C., gets accustomed to. Metal detectors, police vehicle barriers and heavily-armed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-crapo/security-is-a-component-of-everyday-life-that-one-spending-time-in/) [Mike Crapo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-crapo/) > [Finally, the scariest thing about abuse of any shape or form, is, in my opinion, not the abuse itself, but that if it continues…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cumming/finally-the-scariest-thing-about-abuse-of-any-shape-or-form-is-in-my/) [Alan Cumming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cumming/) > [It would be a piece of ingenuousness to accuse the man of today of his lack of moral code. The accusation would leave him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/it-would-be-a-piece-of-ingenuousness-to-accuse-the-man-of-today-of/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [It was just the sort of yatch you'd expect a rock promoter to have. Mirrored ceilings, marble, Jacuzzis and leopard-skin everything, it made the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-anderson/it-was-just-the-sort-of-yatch-you-d-expect-a-rock-promoter-to-have/) [Pamela Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-anderson/) ## More by Mason Cooley > [Nostalgia keeps dissolving the ironic narratives in which I have contained my past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/nostalgia-keeps-dissolving-the-ironic-narratives-in-which-i-have/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The modernist writers found despair inspirational.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-modernist-writers-found-despair-inspirational/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Even the most abject have a sense of superiority based on powerful though undefined merits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-abject-have-a-sense-of-superiority-based-on-powerful/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Money comes to life as it is spent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/money-comes-to-life-as-it-is-spent/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Even the most fickle are faithful to a few bad habits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-fickle-are-faithful-to-a-few-bad-habits/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Rage is exciting, but leaves me confused and exhausted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/rage-is-exciting-but-leaves-me-confused-and-exhausted/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Literary tradition is full of lies about poverty-the jolly beggar, the poor but happy milkmaid, the wholesome diet of porridge, etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/literary-tradition-is-full-of-lies-about-poverty-the-jolly-beggar-the/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Experience teaches us, but we scarcely know what.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/experience-teaches-us-but-we-scarcely-know-what/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The body has a mind of its own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-body-has-a-mind-of-its-own/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [In retirement, I look for days off from my days off. Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/in-retirement-i-look-for-days-off-from-my-days-off-mason-cooley/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [My intentions go one way, my desires another. Thus I feel both self-indulgent and deprived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/my-intentions-go-one-way-my-desires-another-thus-i-feel-both-self/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The Puritan sours his pleasures by disguising them as duties.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-puritan-sours-his-pleasures-by-disguising-them-as-duties/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Unlike the actual, the fictional explains itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/unlike-the-actual-the-fictional-explains-itself/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Vacations prove that a life of pleasure is overrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/vacations-prove-that-a-life-of-pleasure-is-overrated/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Outside literature, high-flown sentiments are merely exasperating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/outside-literature-high-flown-sentiments-are-merely-exasperating/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) [Explore all 1,401 Mason Cooley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## More Commonplace quotes > [It was just the sort of yatch you'd expect a rock promoter to have. Mirrored ceilings, marble, Jacuzzis and leopard-skin everything, it made the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-anderson/it-was-just-the-sort-of-yatch-you-d-expect-a-rock-promoter-to-have/) [Pamela Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-anderson/) > [It would be a piece of ingenuousness to accuse the man of today of his lack of moral code. The accusation would leave him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/it-would-be-a-piece-of-ingenuousness-to-accuse-the-man-of-today-of/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [Finally, the scariest thing about abuse of any shape or form, is, in my opinion, not the abuse itself, but that if it continues…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cumming/finally-the-scariest-thing-about-abuse-of-any-shape-or-form-is-in-my/) [Alan Cumming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cumming/) > [Security is a component of everyday life that one spending time in Washington, D.C., gets accustomed to. Metal detectors, police vehicle barriers and heavily-armed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-crapo/security-is-a-component-of-everyday-life-that-one-spending-time-in/) [Mike Crapo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-crapo/) > [Funerals and weddings were commonplace, and nothing could have been so interesting to them as the coming of the end of the world ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-eggleston/funerals-and-weddings-were-commonplace-and-nothing-could-have-been-so/) [Edward Eggleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-eggleston/) > [To be original is to discover the commonplace of a thousand years--to face at first the sneer that no one would have thought of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stanley-lee/to-be-original-is-to-discover-the-commonplace-of-a-thousand-years-to/) [Gerald Stanley Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stanley-lee/) > [Ever since childhood I have scorned the commonplace limits so often set upon human ambition. Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury - to me these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/ever-since-childhood-i-have-scorned-the-commonplace-limits-so-often/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [After all, the commonplaces are the great poetic truths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/after-all-the-commonplaces-are-the-great-poetic-truths/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [“In a sense nothing is commonplace, for everything exists visibly by means of light and color, and light and color are the most fundamental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-parkhurst-the-painter-in-oil/in-a-sense-nothing-is-commonplace-for-everything-exists-visibly-by/) David Parkhurst The Painter In Oil > [Great geniuses have the shortest biographies. Their cousins can tell you nothing about them. They lived in their writings, and sotheir house and street…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/great-geniuses-have-the-shortest-biographies-their-cousins-can-tell/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The profession of music is lacking in horse sense, not only because the commonplace variety of horse is absent from its operations, but because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-partch/the-profession-of-music-is-lacking-in-horse-sense-not-only-because/) [Harry Partch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-partch/) > [Lying, stealing, and cheating are commonplace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-b-wirthlin/lying-stealing-and-cheating-are-commonplace/) [Joseph B. Wirthlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-b-wirthlin/) > [Which are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those who had not the remotest notion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/which-are-the-people-who-have-influenced-us-most-not-the-ones-who/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [We look for visions of heaven and we never dream that all the time God is in the commonplace things and people around us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/we-look-for-visions-of-heaven-and-we-never-dream-that-all-the-time/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [Science is wonderful at destroying metaphysical answers, but incapable of providing substitute ones. Science takes away foundations without providing a replacement. Whether we want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-putnam/science-is-wonderful-at-destroying-metaphysical-answers-but-incapable/) [Hilary Putnam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-putnam/) Browse all 344 Commonplace quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The ironies in the commonplace are my inspiration and delight.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mason Cooley" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-inspiration-and-delight/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Commonplace" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-inspiration-and-delight/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d8/mason-cooley-92_commonplace_the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-in_2072086.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d8/mason-cooley-92_commonplace_the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-in_2072086.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d8/mason-cooley-92_commonplace_the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-in_2072086.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The ironies in the commonplace are my inspiration and delight.” — Mason Cooley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mason Cooley", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The ironies in the commonplace are...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-inspiration-and-delight/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-ironies-in-the-commonplace-are-my-inspiration-and-delight/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```