From a Douglas MacArthur speech

A magnificent passage from a speech of General Douglas MacArthur

“People grow old only by deserting their ideals, Macarthur had written. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope as old as your despair. In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, so long are you young. When your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only, are you grown old. And then, indeed as the ballad says, you just fade away.”

Truisms (b-f)

• bad intentions can yield good results
• being alone with yourself is increasingly unpopular
• being happy is more important than anything else
• being judgmental is a sign of life
• being sure of yourself means you're a fool
• believing in rebirth is the same as admitting defeat
• boredom makes you do crazy things
• calm is more conductive to creativity than is anxiety
• categorizing fear is calming
• change is valuable when the oppressed become tyrants
• chasing the new is dangerous to society
• children are the most cruel of all
• children are the hope of the future
• class action is a nice idea with no substance
• class structure is as artificial as plastic
• confusing yourself is a way to stay honest
• crime against property is relatively unimportant
• decadence can be an end in itself
• decency is a relative thing
• dependence can be a meal ticket
• description is more important than metaphor
• deviants are sacrificed to increase group solidarity
• disgust is the appropriate response to most situations
• disorganization is a kind of anesthesia
• don't place to much trust in experts
• drama often obscures the real issues
• dreaming while awake is a frightening contradiction
• dying and coming back gives you considerable perspective
• dying should be as easy as falling off a log
• eating too much is criminal
• elaboration is a form of pollution
• emotional responses ar as valuable as intellectual responses
• enjoy yourself because you can't change anything anyway
• ensure that your life stays in flux
• even your family can betray you
• every achievement requires a sacrifice
• everyone's work is equally important
• everything that's interesting is new
• exceptional people deserve special concessions
• expiring for love is beautiful but stupid
• expressing anger is necessary
• extreme behavior has its basis in pathological psychology
• extreme self-consciousness leads to perversion
• faithfulness is a social not a biological law
• fake or real indifference is a powerful personal weapon
• fathers often use too much force
• fear is the greatest incapacitator
• freedom is a luxury not a necessity

Insults. A useful guide

• He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot.- Groucho Marx
• His mind is so open - so open that ideas simply pass through it. - F. H. Bradley
• "The stupid person's idea of a clever person." - Elizabeth Bowen talking about Aldous Huxley
• Are you always this stupid or are you making a special effort today
• Brains aren't everything. In fact in your case they're nothing
• Don't let you mind wander - it's far too small to be let out on its own .
• He always finds himself lost in thought - it's an unfamiliar territory.
• He doesn't know the meaning of the word "fear" - but then again he doesn't know the meaning of most words.
• I don't know what makes you so dumb but it really works.
• Oh my God, look at you. Anyone else hurt in the accident? - Don Rickles
• She loves 'NATURE' - In spite of what it did to her.
• Do you still love nature, despite what it did to you?
• I don't want you to turn the other cheek - it's just as ugly.
• See, that's what's meant by dark and handsome. When it's dark, he's handsome.
• Any similarity between you and a human is purely coincidental!
• Anyone who told you to be yourself couldn't have given you worse advice.
• Are your parents siblings?
• As an outsider, what do you think of the human race?
• Better at sex than anyone; now all he needs is a partner.
• Calling you stupid would be an insult to stupid people.
• Did your parents ever ask you to run away from home?
• Do you ever wonder what life would be like if you'd had enough oxygen at birth?
• Do you want people to accept you as you are or do you want them to like you?
• Don't you need a license to be that ugly?
• Every girl has the right to be ugly, but you abused the privilege!
• Have you considered suing your brains for non-support?
• He has a mind like a steel trap - always closed!
• He is living proof that man can live without a brain!
• He is the kind of a man that you would use as a blueprint to build an idiot.
• He's not stupid; he's possessed by a retarded ghost.
• Here's 20 cents. Call all your friends and bring back some change!
• Hi! I'm a human being! What are you?
• How did you get here? Did someone leave your cage open?
• I'd like to see things from your point of view but I can't seem to get my head that far up my ass.
• I bet your brain feels as good as new, seeing that you've never used it.
• I don't consider you a vulture. I consider you something a vulture would eat.
• I don't think you are a fool. But then what's MY opinion against thousands of others?
• I heard you got a brain transplant and the brain rejected you!
• I know you are nobody's fool but maybe someone will adopt you.
• I thought of you all day today. I was at the zoo.
• I would ask you how old you are but I know you can't count that high.
• I'd like to help you out. Which way did you come in?
• I'd like to leave you with one thought...but I'm not sure you have anywhere to put it!
• I'd love to go out with you, but my favorite commercial is on TV.
• I'll never forget the first time we met - although I'll keep trying.
• I'm busy now. Can I ignore you some other time?
• I've seen people like you before, but I had to pay admission!
• If ignorance is bliss, you must be the happiest person alive.
• If we were to kill everybody who hates you, it wouldn't be murder; it would be genocide!
• If what you don't know can't hurt you, she's invulnerable.
• If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean.
• If your brain was chocolate it wouldn't fill an M&M.
• Keep talking, someday you'll say something intelligent.
• Learn from your parents' mistakes - use birth control!
• Pardon me, but you've obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a damn.
• So, a thought crossed your mind? Must have been a long and lonely journey.
• Some day you will find yourself - and wish you hadn't.
• There is no vaccine against stupidity.
• Just because nobody understands you doesn't mean you're an artist."
• Go ahead, tell them everything you know. It'll only take 10 seconds."
• Seeing you makes me think "somewhere, there's a village missing an idiot."

Security. Deny it

Security is Mostly a Superstition.
It Does Not Exist in Nature, Nor do
the Children of Humans as a Whole
Experience it. Avoiding Danger is no
Safer in the Long Run than Outright Exposure.
Life is Either a Daring Adventure or Nothing.

- Helen Keller (deaf & blind writer)