deeds and beads

The optimist marks his life by milestones, while the pessimist sits and strings a necklace of his millstones.

school circumference

Create an academy that continually questions its ambit.

two thorns

The world would be at peace but for tribes and religions.

spiky

If an aphorist were a type of plant, cactus comes to mind.

distant infinite

So distant it might as well be infinite.

shortened lifespan

One too vain to live too long.

shooting ourselves first

In the US we thwart the fear of foreign terrorist attacks by inviting almost weekly homegrown mass shootings.

time feeds

The present eats into the future and its digestion is called experience.

signature of its skyline

A city's signature is made of the buildings in its skyline.

wands not hands

I think the hands on a clock should be called wands, because there is a certain magic in the way they make things disappear.

stategraft

Do impoverished countries engender corruption, or is it that states that tolerate corruption inevitably remain impoverished?

ad all

Advertisers benefit from the notion that their influence is absolute.

is it over yet

I’m sorry, but it’s true, I was glancing at my watch during your 15 minutes.

then again

Doubt should shadow our shining ideas.

overheard conversation

He got tired of listening to himself talk to himself.

late to realize

By the time I caught up with you, you were dead.

deity given due

All that we don’t know accrues to the divine.

signage of the times

It was announced today that Toy R Us is closing down all its locations and going out of business. In related news, Guns R Us has reached an agreement to open new stores in the same vacated locations, promising aisles of inventory, from AR-15s to shotguns, stocking every handgun available in the market, plus unlimited quantities of ammunition.

blurb bust out

Whenever you hear the word ‘renowned’, run away.

castles in the air

In countries like Great Britain, where the monarchy no longer controls governance, the monarchy becomes state-sponsored entertainment, serving to delight the people.

healing art

He healed before the scars could remember where to leave their marks.

scary stuff

You live on earth, and yet the religious try to frighten you with their stories of hell.

things at hand

We take our omens where we can find them.

utopia undone

What is human ruins the ideal commune.

heliocentric heresy

Our sun but a little night light in the universe.

focal point

Remember your power is concentrated in that corner they backed you into.

fall open

Our arms seem to open widest when we’re falling.

easy to turn

The contrarian proposes nothing.

facedeck

Shuffle the faces.

memory in the middle

Experience forms memory and memory shapes experience.

word became flesh

The image was only words in the moment it became experience.

only moment to moment

Experience is nothing without memory.

just an ankle bracelet

He’d led a charmed life on the chain gang.

no one thing

It’s a mistake to talk of Americans as though one people, or to speak of the USA as though one country. We the people: Are many peoples and many notions of a nation, uneasily held together.

behind me, beyond that

True maturity involves transcending one’s own cultural milieu.

capital job, china

China is capitalism’s dream country: A nation with no political freedom that can make goods at a low price point.

after shock

If after death I somehow retain consciousness, I’ll realize at that moment how absurd life really was.

safe passage

I was so in love with my life I didn’t see it passing.

turned years

I noticed just today that some years ago I must have passed from youth to age.

blitzcleg

Singed by the limelight