To be thoroughly modern, an aphorism should trail off vaguely rather than coming to a point.

Pain narrows consciousness; pleasure blurs it.

When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows.

My passions have never jumped out of the fireplace and set fire to the carpet.

Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not a return to the hedonism of youth

The sewing machine joins what the scissors have cut asunder, plus whatever else comes in its path.

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.

The laughter of the aphorism is sometimes triumphant, but seldom carefree.

'Be faithful to your roots' is the liberal version of 'Stay in your ghetto.'

Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed.

Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.

When we talk, we express our preconceived thoughts, when we listen, we learn and give birth to new thoughts.

Youthful exuberance is splendid.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and you will make of their circumstances the litter you have made of your own.

Anyone not paranoid in this world must be crazy. . . . Speaking of paranoia, it's true that I do not know exactly who my enemies are. But that of course is exactly why I'm paranoid.

Tens of thousands of men and women with kids to raise, bills to pay, and dreams that won't die. This is your campaign.

In countries around the world, waistlines are expanding so rapidly that health experts recently coined a term for the epidemic: globesity.

There's a guy in California who was voting 24 years after he died. I mean, so to suggest to us that people who are concerned about honest elections are somehow nutty, I think, is a mistake.

If we are not peaceful, if we are not feeling well in our skin, we cannot demonstrate real peace, and we cannot raise our children well either.

Beware the meek ... for we shall attempt to inherit the Earth.

There cannot be Ups in a roller-coaster ride unless there are Downs.