In the labyrinth of a difficult text, we find unmarked forks in the path, detours, blind alleys, loops that deliver us back to our point of entry, and finally the monster who whispers an unintelligible truth in our ears.

Everyone knows that (1) happiness is the goal of life, and (2) happiness is a chimera.

Three meals plus bedtime make four sure blessings a day.

A restaurant with candles and flowers evokes more reveries than the Isle of Bali does.

The haiku lets meaning float; the aphorism pins it down.

Old men feel a slightly reluctant affection for one another.

Clothes make the body both mysterious and historical.