A cherished old form of literature, the art of formulting maxims or epigrams seems to have fallen out of favour with XXth and XXIth century authors. From the Chinese to King Solomon's Proverbs (nihil novi sub sole est), to the Greeks and the Romans, to the mediaeval scholastic writers, to the Renaissance, to Montaigne, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Luther, Voltaire, Goethe, Nietzsche, and Oscar Wilde, a wealth of aphorisms has come down to us: ethical, unethical, humorous, enlightening, excruciatingly cruel, and frequently worth more reflection than many books.

Below we reproduce all 123 "impromptus" I wrote for Ex Tempore XIII (2002). Before that, I had published about 800, and since then I have written at least 600 more. One of these days I intend to compile "One thousand and one aphorisms" and organize them by subject matter: human frailties, love, the workplace, nature, the animal world, war and peace, etc.. But I'm not there yet.

 

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Every one knows the Latin maxim: si vis pacem, para bellum -- if you want peace, prepare war (Livius VI, 18,7; Vegetius, 'Epitome rei militaris' 3, prologue)). Surely it would be better to propose: si vis pacem, cole justitiam. If you want peace, cultivate justice ! This enlightened maxim greets you at the Peace Palace in The Hague and at the ILO headquarters in Geneva (ILO was awarded the Nobel peace price 1969). Policy-makers and civil society take note!

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Law is a tool to bring order into chaos. As such, it is a means, not an end. As a normative manifestation of power, law expresses the will, the priorites and sometimes the values of the sovereign. Law is not coterminous with justice; in fact, it may and is frequently used to maintain and legitimize an unjust social order, a system of exploitation, an uequal distribution of resources. The maxim "might is right" reflects the power equation, not any moral or categorical imperative (Kant) dictated by reason or deontology. It is for the philosophers -- and poets -- to infuse ethics into power ! It is for civil society to demand it.

 

A shockingly new idea, a controversial new prespective, an uncomfortable new paradigm first meets with fierce opposition, then with marginalization and silence, finally it is accepted as self-evident.

The two-party system is, alas, only twice as democratic as the one-party system.

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The war on terror is a rhetorical war just like the war on poverty, and, alas, poverty won.

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Education entails the faculty to think independently, apply criteria and arrive at individual judgment, even when different from consensus. It should awaken curiosity, discard taboos, formulate new questions, seek different perspectives, engage logic and coherence, strengthen ethics and intellectual honesty vis á vis others - and ourselves. This faculty of independent thinking, which is the very core of education, remains true even when we forget factual knowledge. Indoctrination, which thrives on uncritical repetition, deference to authority and peer pressure, has nothing to do with education..

Our goal can be somewhat less than trying to change the world. Helping a couple of people is fine too.

The legitimacy and credibility of law rests on its uniform application. Thus, there must not be any favouritism, because in law "one size fits all". The rule of law means the rule of non-arbitrariness, which knows no service à la carte. More fundamentally, although justice is not identical with law, justice requires that law be consistent with ethical values. Law should not follow politics, but it is politics that must follow law.

Societies can be animistic, pantheistic, atheistic, polytheistic, monotheistic -- or, like ours -- moneytheistic.

Civilization, as we know it, developed when nomads settled down, domesticated animals, invented the plow, grew wheat and vine, started baking bread and fermentig grape juice into wine ... O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, Agricolas! Quibus ipsa procul discordibus armis fundit humo facilem victum iustissima tellus.(Vergilius, Georgics, ii, 458).

A “failed State” is not just a State with a troubled economy or with a dysfunctional administration. It is also a State that cannot live in peace with its neighbours.

If we take more time to enjoy what we do have, we will have that less time to belly-ache about what we still lack.

Serendipity goes beyond carpe diem, carpe noctem, beyond grasping at fortuity.. It means winning the game and holding on, remaining alert to fortune's many moods.

Tomorrow is one day more – and one less.

Good governance is more than mere alliteration -- it entails applying Logos rather than legalism, practicing proportion rather than perfection, preferring peace and pluralism over populism, promoting justice instead of jealousy -- and in budget matters employing more mathematics and less metaphors.

Politicians and generals go into history books. Musicians go into the hearts of generations of grateful listeners. Wellington, Blücher, Grant, Eisenhower, Motgommery, de Gaule, Zhukov are long dead. Beethoven lives!

Fortunately for mankind, glory is ephemeral and fame fades fast. Otherwise even more megalomaniacs would enter the fray and plague the rest of us in the process.

Peace is not just the absence of war. It means abandoning the aggressive animus and the will to exploit other nations and peoples. It requires closing down the criminal arms industry that fuels conflict throughout the world. More than that, peace implies the presence of something positive -- not just an absence of evil. It entails the presence of good will, a striving for harmony, the exercise of solidarity, the quest for justice -- that possible dream we once read about in the Sermon on the Mount.

Good politicians are pessimists in analysis but optimists in action.

Progress depends on tempered enthusiasm rather than on hot tempers. Met drift kom je nergens, met geestdrift overal.

Collateral benefit is a form of serendipity – the joy of finding something unexpected when one is busy looking for something else

Human dignity transcends quantification and knows no competition, for respect is due to rich and poor alike. The dignitas humana has no room for privilege and exploitation; all victims deserve solidarity, recognition and rehabilitation without discrimination. Justice is not a beauty contest, but a conscious vindication of human dignity

There is no clash of civilizations, but rather the clash of narrow-minded politicians who pretend that theirs is the only civilization

Hero worship is for adolescents, convenient mythologies for adults, caricatures for the elites, instrumentalized trivia for the hoi polloi -- quite a circus of institutionalized self-deception for one and all.

Creation is divine -- and very much human -- from writing a love poem, to composing a symphony, to inventing a flower arrangement, to baking a cheese cake, to singing Adeste fideles.

The Manichaean world view lacks the poetry of nuances, of the good within the bad, the bad within the good, the poetry of ambiguity.

Collateral benefit is a form of serendipity – the joy of finding something unexpected when one was busy looking for something else.

Objectivity does not exclude poetry.

Creation is divine -- and very much human: from writing a love poem, to composing a symphony, to inventing a flower arrangement, to baking a cheese cake, to singing Panis angelicus.

The Manichaean world view lacks the poetry of nuances, of the good within the bad, the bad within the good, the poetry of ambiguity.

Truth is in the nuances.
Hero worship is for adolescents, convenient mythology for adults, caricature for the elites, instrumentalized trivia for the hoi polloi -- quite a circus of institutionalized self-deception for one and all.

Doing always the right thing does not automatically yield the good result.

Coping with great misfortune is sometimes easier than accepting banal inconveniences.

Failure is not per se punishment, nor does it entail guilt. Often enough it is the guilty who are successful and the innocent who lose.

Integrity entails living in the midst of lies and not falling for them, facing adversity without losing one’s sense of proportion.

Self-respect often requires stoic perseverance -- even when there are no followers.

Self-preservation takes precedence over revenge.

Some politicians indulge more in science fiction than in government.

A politician should be pessimistic in analysis but optimistic in action.

Cognitive dissonance occurs not only in politics, but also in human relations. How often does a lover pursue the shadow of his own infatuation? There are many Don Quijotes still yearning for their own imaginary Dulcineas.

War is the great destroyer – not only of human beings, but also of values.
“Clash of civilizations” is an euphemism for the animus to aggress others.

There is no clash of civilizations, but rather the clash of narrow-minded politicians, who claim that theirs is the only civilization.

Human dignity transcends quantification and knows no competition.

Justice is not a beauty contest, but a conscious vindication of human dignity

There were good guys on all sides of the Peloponnesian war, the Punic wars, Julius Caesar’s campaigns, the “Reconquista”, the French revolution, the American Civil War, the Bolshevist revolution, the Spanish Civil War, at Verdun and at Stalingrad. There is never a monopoly of good or evil in any human conflict.

The essential homo sapiens evolves slowly. I bet that Neanderthal children threw snowballs at each other with as much gusto as 21st century lads.

The habits and expectations of modern man are scarcely conducive to happiness. Whereas everything good that happens to us is perceived as natural and we take it for granted, we are surprised and frustrated over every stone in our path. We would be happier if we would only learn to count our blessings.

When you take a nation’s past away, you also destroy its future

God obviously prefers carnivores to vegetarians, otherwise he would have given the same attention to Cain’s veggies as to Abel’s lamb offerings.

Mankind is not peaceful by nature. Violence was with us from the start – four human beings and already one murder!

God is not an advocate of an eye-for-an eye: Cain was banished, not killed because of murdering his brother.

It is easier to endure long misfortune than to prolong a state of happiness.

Good men do not always get what they deserve. Nor do the bad.

Commercial rivalries cause even more wars than religious differences.

Rulers can afford to be generous and enlightened after they have suppressed or even exterminated the opposition.

Morality lessons are easy to impart after a position of force has been secured, usually by immoral means.

Academic work is both drudgery and passion.

Not every philosopher has worthy disciples. Socrates lucked out with Plato, Plato with Aristotle. But Socrates failed to instill modesty and measure on his pupil Alcibiades, an egomaniac cheat, who never understood the meaning of moderation (meden agan, metron ariston), while Aristotle had the disappointment of tutoring Alexander (for some “the Great”), who started as a megalomaniac and grew into a genocidal killer – and drunkard.

Man is born into a culture and religion and has a limited number of roles to play.
While perfectly coherent within a given epistemology, outside this specific cultural or religions context, man’s actions may appear illogical or even irrational. Thus, while St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas were doubtless brilliant thinkers, their legacy is not accessible outside the Christian faith. For non-believers, much of Aquinas’ reasoning may appear circular; to a traditional Christian, Muhammad remains inaccessible.

True scholarship is free of loyalties.

The scholar does not root for a team but remains aloof of the media fray.

Insisting on justice often only prolongs the pain. Experience teaches you to cut your losses and turn the page.

Dogs show immediate enthusiasm for other dogs and socialize with them readily – size, race or colour notwithstanding. Why don’t humans get more enthused over other humans ?

Imperialism, whether military or economic, was never benign.

Imperialism -- whether American, British, French, German, Ancient Greek, Roman or Persian – never endeared the masters to their subjects.

Realpolitik is more akin to opportunism than to patriotism.

Patriotism means very different things to different people. You may call it a cocktail of self-deception and bravado, a form of mental masturbation, rooting for a political party as you root for a football team, a readiness to rape.

Heroism is a cocktail of brazenness and patriotism. For some, a manifestation of stubbornness – fighting unto death for a personal conviction or even for a caprice.

Genuine patriotism entails a striving for political and social justice. It is not “my country right or wrong”, but “let’s work to make this country just”.
The cult of heroism is a totalitarian tool.

Every totalitarian regime has its saints.

Christianity has done many bad things such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and Pope Alexander VI’s Bull Inter Cetera. But it has also done glorious things -- immeasurably enriched us by inventing musical notation (the monk Guido of Arezzo!), inspired Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert, gave outlet to all forms of artistic expression -- from the poetry of the Gothic Cathedral to the humanity of Michelangelo’s Pieta. The Beatitudes will always be an antidote to despair, consolation in mourning, hope in hope.

Religion is awe of nature plus a moral code.

Religion is more than rituals and sacraments, but belief in cosmic justice and commitment to truth -- helping other human beings – or at least not hurting them!

Pseudo-religion is the instrumentalization of fear for purposes of power.

The sun shines on the just and unjust alike. In its light, justice can be seen by all who have eyes, but some would hide justice in the shadow of their own agendas.

Competition does not exclude caritas.

Lessons learned are all too quickly unlearned.

Asymmetrical love lasts longer

Freedom of thought means freedom from mental models and the temerity to think the unthinkable.

Post-Cartesian logic:
Cogito libere, ergo ego sum. (I think independently, therefore I am myself).
Liber sum, ergo possum cogitare. (I am free, therefore I can think).

Axiom: “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
-- Aldous Huxley, Proper Studies, 1927
Corollary: “Popular myths are not necessarily facts”

Retributive justice is hardly justice when it only reflects the top-dog/underdog syndrome. Restorative justice offers greater credibility and sustainability if it is based on the recognition of root causes, the mutual acknowledgment of errors, and is future-oriented, inspired by a genuine reconciliation paradigm.

Even those who have no future do have a human right to dream.

No one has the “right” to be a billionaire. Great fortunes are made thanks to the existence of a market – which is not an individual achievement, but rather the result of collective action by society at large. Whoever benefits from the marketplace owes it to the rest of society to share the profit with the collectivity. This is done by philanthropy -- and progressive taxation. Wealth is just and respectable as the merited reward for incentive. Taking a greater share of the pie than one deserves is but vulgar greed.

Property is a legal fiction to describe certain powers of disposition over material things
Property in rem is subject to taxation; property in personam is chattel slavery. "Ownership" is ephemeral, since we can exchange, dispose of or otherwise lose property, and after death we "can't take it with us!". Even in our lifetime, the idea that a human being “owns” a tree appears rather implausible. One may carve a sweetheart's name on a oak, one may chop down a conifer and make a chair out of it, but one never really owns the tree.

Freedom of expression is meaningful if one has an opinion to express.  Opinion is based on factual knowledge and an appreciation of the various points of view.  Freedom of expression would have little value if it only meant the right to echo what one receives from the media. More important is the right to think freely and to exchange views so as to develop one’s own conception of things. Thus, the manipulation of information is just as dangerous when it is done by the private sector (CNN, Fox) as when it is imposed by governmental authority.  The crucial test is whether the people have the information needed to formulate opinions and take decisions thereon, or whether they are just victims of manipulation.

 

An art lover who internalizes a painting has more ownership of it than a person who buys it and hangs it in his living room.

Tolerance is good, but frequently patronizing. Respect entails more: the acceptance of the other's right to be, even his right to be wrong.

It is relatively easy to find confirmation for a pet theory or hypothesis. What is crucial is to test the logic of competing theories and conscientiously look for refutation.

Being is immesurably more than doing

Freedom is the choice to swim with or against the current. Swimming only with the current misses out on a world of other possibilities. Freedom means adventure, even at the risk of drowning. It is more important to deepen than to lengthen life, more existential to pause than to rush by.