Mason Cooley Quotes

Excuses change nothing, but make everyone feel better.

Not romance but companionship makes the happiness of daily life.

Faith prefers the absurd to the plausible.

When a paradox is widely believed, it is no longer recognized as a paradox.

Life is the risk we cannot refuse.

Keep your lies short and simple.

Smooth white skin invites something that will leave a trace, a kiss or a slap.

Truth can remain silent. Lies must be spoken.

Existence is not a mystery unless you think it has a meaning.

The beloved is the ultimate fetish.

Truth is a necessary phantom.

I do not remember joy or sorrow in childhood, but listening for clues.

Falling in love is the right adventure for those who dislike sports and travel.

Every representation, even of an orgy, is a sublimation.

Ideology has shaped the very sofa on which I sit.

Memories contain hidden editorials on current events.

The greater the privilege, the more hidden the arrogance. The Emperor of China need not exist.

Travelling carries me to the surface, away from the deeps of home-thoughts.

The magic of procedure: do this after that and thus before so; then your wish will be granted.

A sense of righteousness is even more dangerous than a violent temper.

As soon as I hear of a right, I want it.

If everything had a label, we would live in a fully delineated but false world.

Constant talkers are unheard.

Thought maps existence; fantasy colors it.

Paradise endangered: garden snakes and mice are appearing in the shadowy corners of Dutch Old Master paintings.

Smiling half-reluctance seems to promise more than the frankest gesture of desire.

The parade was here, but it disappeared around a corner.

I love money, but will money ever love me in return?

We understand through resemblance.

As night falls, every joy glows brighter.

Courage, determination, and hard work are all very nice, but not so nice as an oil well in the back yard.

Jargon: any technical language we do not understand.

A happy arrangement: many people prefer cats to other people, and many cats prefer people to other cats.

The extravagance of intellect outstrips the extravagance of desire.

The more powerless people are, the longer they are kept waiting.

Lead the reader toward the thought, then stop a little short.

The present necessarily betrays the past.

Always clamping down on excitement is not self-control but fear.

Hypocrisy is the outside of cynicism.

Never trust the judgment of an enthusiastic man; never trust the promises of a lazy one.

Theory can leave questions unanswered, but practice has to come up with something.

To avoid eye contact, kiss.

Charity does not like arithmetic; selfishness worships it.

Even boredom has its crises.

Sign at the orgy: BODIES ONLY.

I am forbidden sugar, fat, and alcohol. So hooray, I guess, for oatmeal, lemon juice, and chicken soup.

When love and adventure are finished, it's nice to have getting and spending to fall back on.

In middle age, I practiced feeling old, but the real thing has been a rude surprise.