A Quote by Mason Cooley

Writing an upbeat aphorism is a temptation, but decorum forbids.

Mason Cooley

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Aphorism Decorum Temptation Upbeat Writing

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Mason Cooley
American - Writer
1927 - 2002

An aphorism is not an aphorism unless you know what it means.

Winston Churchill

APHORISM, n. Predigested wisdom. The flabby wine-skin of his brain Yields to some pathologic strain, And voids from its unstored abysm The driblet of an aphorism. "The Mad Philosopher," 1697

Ambrose Bierce

The trick to writing an aphorism is to place a period at the point where you're inclined to say, "in other words.

Robert Breault

Ceremony forbids us to express by words things that are lawful and natural, and we obey it; reason forbids us to do things unlawful and ill, and nobody obeys it.

Michel de Montaigne

I do think you can see, throughout American history, this temptation, and it's both a liberal and a conservative temptation, to take a healthy patriotism a little too far. For liberals the temptation is to say the purpose of politics is to straightforwardly bring the kingdom of God to Earth. For conservatives, I talk about Glenn Beck, the temptation is more apocalyptic and messianic, it's the temptation to say we did have a covenant with God, a literal covenant beginning with the Founding, and we are, like Israel in the Old Testament, falling away from it.

Ross Douthat

As for writing about temptation, there's no drama without temptation, and no novel without drama.

Tom Perrotta

Since belief is measured by action, he who forbids us to believe religion to be true, necessarily also forbids us to act as we should if we did believe it to be true.

William James

Nice characters are boring! I like writing upbeat characters - that's my natural tendency.

Marjorie M. Liu

A temptation is the universe's gracious way of allowing a soul to evolve without creating negative karma. In other words, a temptation is like a magnet that draws to awareness, negativity, that would otherwise create negative karma if it remained unconscious. A temptation is a dress rehearsal for a negative karmic act.

Gary Zukav

I remember listening to like gospel-y blues tunes. I'd just listen to the rhythm and the music was upbeat. Always upbeat if you get like a good rhythm you can nod your head. You just feel good. But then when you listen to the lyrics it was quite sad.

Michael Kiwanuka

It wasn't until I had been writing on and off for maybe ten years that I started to establish any kind of routine, thought I couldn't put a finger on an exact date, and this routine relates simply to the aphorism 'How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.'

Neal Asher

I'm glad that I didn't have the Internet when I started writing. I started writing when I was 20 and didn't show a word of it to anyone until I was 28. I had the sense to keep it to myself. Now the temptation with blogs and such, they're just getting it out there; maybe it would have been best to keep it to themselves.

David Sedaris

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it... I can resist everything but temptation.

Oscar Wilde

All temptations can be handled easily when we know how, because no temptation is a temptation at all unless we are entertaining it.

Sterling W Sill

That was my nature - going from temptation after temptation, not to sin, but to be redeemed.

Anne Rice

I never went out to make the music that people would like. I mean, I tried, because every teenager tries to do that. But in my heart, I'd always come from gigs where I played upbeat guitar covers and I'd start writing sad songs on the piano.

Freya Ridings

A Quote by Mason Cooley

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