“Writing an upbeat aphorism is a temptation, but decorum forbids.”

—  Mason Cooley

City Aphorisms, Eighth Selection (1991)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Writing an upbeat aphorism is a temptation, but decorum forbids." by Mason Cooley?
Mason Cooley photo
Mason Cooley23
American academic 1927–2002

Related quotes

Karl Kraus photo

“Someone who can write aphorisms should not fritter away his time writing essays.”

Karl Kraus (1874–1936) Czech playwright and publicist

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

F. H. Bradley photo

“Our live experiences, fixed in aphorisms, stiffen into cold epigrams. Our heart’s blood, as we write it, turns to mere dull ink.”

F. H. Bradley (1846–1924) British philosopher

No. 25.
Aphorisms (1930)

Honoré de Balzac photo

“I am tormented by temptations."
"What kind? There is a cure for temptation."
"What?"
"Yielding to it.”

Honoré de Balzac book Le Pere Goriot

Je suis tourmenté par de mauvaises idées.
— En quel genre? Ça se guérit, les idées.
- Comment?
- En y succombant.
Part II.
Le Père Goriot (1835)

“Classical Sanskrit theatre flourished during the first nine centuries CE. Aphorisms on acting appear in the writings of Panini, the Sanskrit grammarian of the 5th century BCE, and references to actors, dancers, mummers, theatrical companies, and academies are found in Kautilya’s book on statesmanship, the Artha-shastra (4th century BCE).”

Pāṇini ancient Sanskrit grammarian

A.K. Ramanujan in: South Asian arts http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/556016/South-Asian-arts/65258/Modern-Indian-dance#ref532709, britannica.com, 17 March 2014

Markus Zusak photo

“The silence was always the greates temptation.”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

Robert Burns photo

“Ye're aiblins nae temptation.”

Robert Burns (1759–1796) Scottish poet and lyricist

Address to the Unco Guid, st. 6 (1787)

Jean Jacques Rousseau photo

“It is a mistake to classify the passions as lawful and unlawful, so as to yield to the one and refuse the other. All alike are good if we are their masters; all alike are bad if we abandon ourselves to them. Nature forbids us to extend our relations beyond the limits of our strength; reason forbids us to want what we cannot get, conscience forbids us, not to be tempted, but to yield to temptation. To feel or not to feel a passion is beyond our control, but we can control ourselves. Every sentiment under our own control is lawful; those which control us are criminal. A man is not guilty if he loves his neighbour's wife, provided he keeps this unhappy passion under the control of the law of duty; he is guilty if he loves his own wife so greatly as to sacrifice everything to that love.”

Jean Jacques Rousseau book Emile, or On Education

Emile, or On Education (1762), Book V

Oscar Wilde photo

“Do you really think, Arthur, that it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations that it requires strength, strength and courage, to yield to.”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

Sir Robert Chiltern, Act III
An Ideal Husband (1895)

Billy Graham photo

“Temptation requires definite, decisive action.”

Billy Graham (1918–2018) American Christian evangelist

Billy Graham in Quotes

Related topics