Slave to aphorisms

At Pinchy's request, and because I'm neither tired nor motivated, here goes.

This evening, I was watching No Direction Home, Scorsese's lengthy Dylan documentary (three days!) and there were two points in the movie where Dylan said something that caused me to look around and grab a pen and scribble down what he had to say.

"An artist has got to be careful never really to arrive at a place where he thinks he's somewhere. You always have to realize that you're constantly in a state of becoming."

"You can't be wise and in love at the same time."

There's just something about aphorisms that really fascinate me, and I don't know why. Is it something about the writer in me? The hopeless romantic?

“The future belongs to those that believe in the beauty of their dreams.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

As a self-described hopeless romantic, it's hard not to get excited about that phrase. I seem to have this consuming desire to sum up life in all its complexities with a few choice words. Ironically, the only other person I know that shares this overwhelming desire is Adrian Ma, also the only man I know who rivals me in my verbosity.

But these phrases can elucidate so much. They can make sense of seemingly irrational feelings of possession.

“There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.” - Oscar Wilde (the king of aphorisms and, not coincidentally, I'm sure, my favourite author)

They can comfort and amuse me when I feel like I'm trying to carry too many of my friends' burdens for them.

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.” - Mother Teresa

They can even lend a shred of credibility to my hatred of sleep.

“Sleep - those little slices of death, how I loathe them.” - Edgar Allen Poe

Perhaps it's the idea that anyone, regardless of the rest of their experience and whatever they may do, can have a brief moment of lucid understanding where they see vividly some profound truth (granted, the Teresa and Poe ones there are not so much profound as clever or relatable), and leave an apt summation to the world. I have a seven-page list of quotes on my computer, and they're not all from Wilde and Poe.

“Tomorrow is wonderful with a question mark, but yesterday will always be magnificent with an exclamation point. We worked very hard to always have enough fun to make sure this would forever be true.” - Mark Ciesluk

Chalk that one up to my current nostalgia for a few years ago when my less lofty ambition allowed me to see more of my friends, but I think there's something profound in there.

So, who wants to solve this one for me?

On another note, this week holds Foo Fighters, Bob Dylan, Bill Clinton, and Jurassic 5, so my list of aphorisms could grow.