Tales from the Vienna Woods

But one thing Le Meridien does have that I like is aphorisms. There was one right there on the wall of the lobby as I walked in:
We play roles in life to such an extent that all we would have to do is stop playing to create theater
—Ryszard Cieslak (Polish actor)
The saying struck me as [...]

More Assorted Aphorisms

Being a fresh installment of some aphorisms sent to me via my website, both conducive to contemplation and inducive of merriment…
A variation on a theme of Lazarus Long (see Tuesday, Nov. 15 post), by Gary Freedman:
It is better to capitulate than never.
From Christopher Dee, another wonderful Emersonism:
You teach your boy to walk, but he learns [...]

A Short Discourse on Lazarus Long

Lazarus Long, also known as Woodrow Wilson Smith, is a recurring character in a clutch of novels by science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein. I read Heinlein’s classic “Stranger in a Strange Land” as a teenager and immediately grokked its iconoclastic, counterculture message. It wasn’t until much later that I realized Heinlein’s prose is extremely [...]

A Short Discourse on Lazarus Long

Lazarus Long, also known as Woodrow Wilson Smith, is a recurring character in a clutch of novels by science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein. I read Heinlein’s classic “Stranger in a Strange Land” as a teenager and immediately grokked its iconoclastic, counterculture message. It wasn’t until much later that I realized Heinlein’s prose is extremely [...]

Assorted Aphorisms

Being a regular posting of some of the sayings sent to me via my website, helpfully annotated and wonderfully instructive…
During the signing session after a talk I gave this week in London, a man asked me to autograph a copy of my book for his son. I always try to write a personalized aphorism when [...]

The Strange Case of Patience Worth

I am indebted to Amos Oliver Doyle for bringing the aphorisms of Patience Worth to my attention. Hers is a strange tale, and her aphorisms are stranger still…
Patience Worth was born in England in 1649, and travelled to America with some of the early English settlers when she was in her thirties. By her own [...]


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