feed and need

Happily for so long they’d lapped at the trough until one day they raised their heads as if to say it wasn’t enough.

long may it wave even aflame

The greatest compliment one could pay to our/US flag is to acknowledge that a citizen who feels aggrieved by our government or its actions has the right to burn it.

facial expression

He could play hard and not scowl.

after-the-fact analysts

You don’t get any credit for identifying a problem or solving a problem in retrospect. Only action in real-time matters.

kinds of solitude

Solitude is sweetest when elective, saddest when by circumstance.

deadfall

Being a smidge over 6-feet tall, I was glad that with social distancing should I fall dead in a line at the grocery store, I’d only brush past one of my fellow human beings.

step up

He preferred solitude to company, so when the virus hit he volunteered for quarantine.

hive mind

Great cities are the minds of civilization.

next day

It’s the next day that matters.

the aphorists

In La Rochefoucauld’s aphorisms there is the feeling of drawing rooms, the air heavy with the dust of powdered wigs and pungent perfumes.

He's fond of negative phrasings which is perhaps a reflection of his cynical nature. Cynicism is one thing, but he’s often wrong, too, about human nature, or he overstates his case, which is perhaps inherent to the aphorism as a literary form.

if not you

Remember, everything one does, could be done by someone else.

thing of worth

If something cannot be shared, perhaps it shouldn’t be owned.

levitated on illusions

Such were his illusions that he floated a few feet above the rest of us on earth.

no likeness

He realized he would never be important enough to be asked to sit for a portrait.

kinds of not knowing

I accept only innocent ignorance. The neglectful and lazy kind, I abhor.

last king standing

In chess, the better players learn endgame technique. Then again, only better players get to play endgames.

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.