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Power makes gods. Virtue makes martyrs.

Mason Cooley

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Mason Cooley
Age: 75 †
Born: 1927
Born: January 1
Died: 2002
Died: July 25
Aphorist
Martyr
Gods
God
Virtue
Makes
Power
Martyrs

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Some crave grief like strong drink.
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Between repetition and forgetting, it is a marvel that a new thought ever struggles into existence.
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Consciousness is our only reprieve from Time.
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You know you're in love when you stop comparing.
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The morose one refuses to smile even when he has just had his teeth cleaned.
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Was there a little time between the invention of language and the coming of true and false?
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In New York, pretending to be above the struggle means no seat on the bus and a table next to the kitchen.
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Telescopes and binoculars endanger the ever-distant sublime.
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People invent gods to explain their suffering.
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Without asceticism, self-indulgence would be insignificant.
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Reading civilized the inner life.
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In describing someone's character, I reveal my own.
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Pain pays no attention to moans or excuses.
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Respectability is joining chastity in the museum of dead issues.
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A theology whose god is a metaphor is wasting its time.
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Courage overrides self-doubt, but does not end it.
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Either offer me something I really like, or stop trying to tempt me.
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The higher the moral tone, the more suspect the speaker.
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A quick smile is more seductive than a slinky dress.
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