#40110
08/30/2001 11:37 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
"It is more trouble to make a maxim than it is to do right" quoth tsuwm in Mark Twain’s words.
So a small challenge if anyone cares to try:
Make up a maxim which has no obvious meaning yet preferably sounds like it should have one, hovering just out of our grasp!
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#40111
08/30/2001 1:15 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
My maxim? - Strive never to create any formula or rules by which to live.
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#40112
08/30/2001 1:52 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear belligerentyouth: Your maxim is just too good. It makes excellent sense to me.
Only the unexamined life is worth living.
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#40113
08/30/2001 2:42 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Only the unexamined life is worth living.
Good, Dr. Bill.
There is more to be found in a cloud than in all the works of man.
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#40114
08/30/2001 2:52 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Faldage: You speak more like a poet than a philosopher. I hate philosophers.
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#40115
08/30/2001 3:06 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
yep, I like all of these. I shall endeavour to live a better life by their example.
My offering in return is:
It's a legless dog that leaves no tracks.
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#40116
08/30/2001 3:42 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
...a legless dog...
Now that one is *really good. It comes across as being hopelessly trite on first view but then you get a sneaking feeling that it really *does mean something profound.
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#40117
08/30/2001 4:01 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Beware of chickens in the woods.
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#40118
08/30/2001 4:04 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
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#40119
08/30/2001 5:06 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428 |
Despite my best efforts, this may actually mean something, but here goes:
A good friend makes a bad enemy
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#40120
08/30/2001 5:15 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
He who goeth before a fall casts pride before swine.
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#40121
08/30/2001 5:53 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
yes, these definitely work for me!  It gets me wondering if chicken in the open are OK, or is the poor creature made mad by where it lives, or, maybe ducks in the wood may be different, or...? and does a bad friend therefore...! and as, dear for girl you, thoroughly confused now am I!
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#40122
08/30/2001 6:22 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
A penny saved is a waste of time.
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#40123
08/30/2001 7:34 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
a real one, but not always understood--
You might as well be hung for the sheep, than for the lamb.
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#40124
08/30/2001 7:38 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
You might as well be hung for the sheep, than for the lamb.
I always took this to mean if you're going to commit an infraction it might as well be a big one. Is this not the case? Is this another "no love lost between them"?
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#40125
08/30/2001 7:54 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
yes, well, good shepard, its no wonder you understand it. but in our modern urban word, it falls flat on most ears.
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#40126
08/30/2001 8:21 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Here's one with a certain piquancy:
No gentleman ever did harm unintentionally.
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#40127
08/30/2001 8:41 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
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#40128
08/30/2001 8:47 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Not to change the direction of the thread (Who? *Moi?) but here's one on the oblique :
If I cannot have friends, God grant me honorable enemies.
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#40129
08/30/2001 8:51 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
Well, I hope this doesn't make any sense:
He is the fool who tries to outrun the sound of light.
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#40130
08/30/2001 11:10 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
No gentleman ever did harm unintentionally.
"A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally," said Oscar Wildely.
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#40131
08/30/2001 11:42 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
"A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally"
This is not supposed to be a place to be serious, but that quotation bothers me, because the best of gentlemen do indeed at times hurt others unintentionally. Worse still, for those who would hesitate to claim that honorable estate, all too often we hurt even those we love unintentionally.
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#40132
08/31/2001 1:42 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Never say never unless you dare!
A Quayle in hand is worth two in the Bush
The quickest moss grows on a rolling stone
Quoth the Poebird, "Ravenously more!"
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#40133
08/31/2001 2:26 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
At the risk of yarting, since I myself have brought this up before, I have to offer a maxim from one of the undisputed masters:
The question is ... which is to be master -- that's all. ... Impenetrability! That's what I say.
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#40134
08/31/2001 4:46 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
A young yak won't catch a rattlesnake.
Bingley
Bingley
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#40135
08/31/2001 5:06 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618 |
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#40136
08/31/2001 8:05 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Out of the frying pan, into the microwave.
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#40137
08/31/2001 8:12 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
or, alternatively and still in an incendiary mode:
The juvenile offspring of mankind,
When cauterized by ignition,
Forever bears within its mind
The fear of repetition.
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#40138
08/31/2001 10:22 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
When training as a doctor, I onced loved a beautiful young nurse, but I never cauterize
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#40139
09/01/2001 2:18 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
A maxim is what you make it. 
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#40140
09/01/2001 2:26 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
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#40141
09/01/2001 2:01 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
One should not use the shotgun approach to creating maxims.
TEd
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#40142
09/01/2001 2:36 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
And one should not use a Maxim machine gun to spell out his opinions.
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#40143
09/01/2001 4:46 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
A maxim in nine saves time ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#40144
09/01/2001 7:28 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
He is the fool who tries to outrun the sound of light.
Is he not a fool, then, if he tries to outrun the sound of heavy?
If at first you don't succeed, suc harder. If at first you don't succeed, perhaps it's a seedless variety.
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#40145
09/01/2001 10:19 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Beware of geeks wearing lifts
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#40146
09/01/2001 10:20 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
CK says eight ninths of all maxims save no time.
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#40147
09/02/2001 10:36 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460
addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460 |
We had a similar part-thread last October -- to save overloading the search function, I modestly repeat my post:
One of the New Statesman competitions [in 1969] was to invent aphorisms or proverbs of a self-evident nature, the example being an Ashanti proverb "Do not rub bottoms with a porcupine".
Correspondents came up with the following [a selection only]:
He digs deepest who deepest digs.
He who has the biggest feet will cover the most ground.
A bird in a taxi's worth two in a bus.
If there's no lead in your pencil you don't need a rubber.
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#40148
09/02/2001 1:01 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
"If there's no lead in your pencil you don't need a rubber."
If there's no lead in your pencil, you can't write. Or do much else.
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#40149
09/04/2001 1:48 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
If there's no lead in your pencil you don't need a rubber.
This one might be taken a whole nother way by USns.
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