CYNICS WISDOM

cynics.wisdom.md

The Cynic's Book of Wisdom:

• Never discount the possibility you might live through it.
• In the end you, you are the only answer to the question: What to do?
• Sometimes you get a miracle. Don't expect another one.
• Before declaring victory over your opponent, make sure you are playing the same game.
• Sometimes the crazy person is right.
• Nothing is so destructive as what we believe to be true.
• The past is always waiting.
• You are in more danger from the other person's God than your own.
• No escape is final.
• Sometimes victory is deciding to act.
• Great power does not foster great flexibility.
• Know when to hang on, when to let go, and when not to get on the ride in the first place.
• Surviving the worst will always complicate the matter.
• Sometimes your allies are chosen for you.
• Fear the new, but fear more the obsessive grasp of the old.
• The universe does not go out of its way to conform to your expectations.
• Nothing moves a State quicker than fear, and nothing a State fears so much as change.
• When you ask if you want to know, you don't.
• We are defined by the secrets we choose to keep.
• Right and wrong are defined by what you do, not what you serve.
• An event is dangerous in direct proportion to how unexpected it is.
• Freedom is simple ignorance of whom you serve.
• Remove the fear of death and you remove the primary constraint on human action.
• Your friends gain more from your failures than your enemies.
• God favors the strongest battalion.
• The Devil is in the details, and God is right there egging him on.
• Everyone worships the God that promises what they want.
• The shortest freeway will have the highest toll.
• The most dangerous impulse is to feel safe.
• A soul's value tends to appreciate considerably after it is sold.
• The risks we see are often those we have already overcome.
• We serve most those beliefs that we first reject.
• Power is not the same as knowledge.
• Everyone is vulnerable to their past.
• Blaming Fate, God, or Destiny is an admission that you don't have a clue what is going on.
• If you have a choice between bang or whimper, choose bang.
• We only assume we know what we are doing.
• Even if you expect change, the change is not what you expect.
• Always bet on the team with fewer rules.
• Much good is done to atone for past evil.
• Desperate plans are only reasonable in retrospect.
• Insanity doesn't mean the voices are wrong.
• Imaginary friends are better than imaginary enemies.
• The universe grants no special privileges, even privilege to be disadvantaged.
• The worst atrocities are committed with the best of intentions.
• The longer you wait to hear the news the less likely you will like it.
• It's the waiting that is the worst.
• The universe doesn't lie, but that doesn't mean you understand what it is saying.
• You never receive the punishment you expect.
• A situation is safe insofar as the risks are unknown.
• Never stand between an armed man and the exit.
• Some of the most severe wounds never bleed.
• A person unwilling to change is unable to survive.
• Standard procedure only applies to standard situations.
• Fear makes us survive. Hope makes us want to.
• Sometimes explosions are necessary.
• No one is absolute certain what they will do in a crisis.
• It is better to ally along shared interests than shared ideals.
• It is the height of arrogance to assume you are unique.
• Don't assume you know what the enemy wants.
• Problems are never solved, only replaced.
• Those who predict the future are doomed to create it.
• We rely on our ignorance to keep us sane.
• Things continue.
• If we had perfect understanding of the consequences of our actions, we would never act.
• Nothing ends perfectly.
• God speaks to fewer ears than hear him.
• You cannot argue with high explosives.
• No bureaucracy responds efficiently in a crisis.
• Planning is necessary but never sufficient.
• It's larger than you can imagine.
• Before searching for something , make sure you understand what is before your eyes.
• Beware your allies' secrets.
• Security is only 100% effective when protecting something no one wants.
• They never help you for your sake.
• There are never only two sides to any conflict.
• Nothing is inconceivable to a doomed man.
• Don't underestimate anyone's capacity for irrational hatred.
• Hell grows out of a desire for Utopia.
• Live each day as your last, remembering that it might not be.
• If you shoot, shoot to kill.
• Power will always fall to weakness it has denied possessing.
• It is human nature to ignore the fate of nations when one's family is at stake.
• Never underestimate the ability to rationalize one's own self- interest.
• The intent of all insurrections is to bring chaos out of order.
• Heroism comes when all other options have been exhausted.
• Shared interests do not imply shared priorities.
• If you leave an enemy alive, you better leave him something to live for.
• The faster one runs from the past, the sooner one revisits it.
• Never assume you are on the winning team.
• Great evils are never met by small acts.
• Foreign policy is dictated by powerful men's prejudices.
• War is simply honest diplomacy.
• Capitalism is a dog eat- dog- system. However, with most other alternatives, the dog starves.
• Industry is amoral.
• A criminal is a revolutionary without the pretense.
• Might might not make right, but it makes a damn good argument for its position.
• An efficient legal system operates on the assumption that everyone is guilty of something.
• Alliances are based on the premise that the parties involved benefit more from screwing the rest of the world than from screwing each other.
• People prefer deals where only they benefit to one of mutual benefit between themselves and others.
• History is written by those in power to justify the present. Memory is the same thing on a smaller scale.
• Anyone who believes in free speech has never tried to make a living as a writer.
• Ethics only become a problem when taken seriously.
• Governments are always more at risk from their subjects than from external threats.
• Artificial Intelligences are feared more for the latter than the former.
• True enemies are as rare as true friends.
• The future is the past's revenge.
• We hate that which is too much like ourselves.
• We are the property of those we hate.
• Bravery comes when there are no other options.
• There is no aspect of politics that was not first invented within the confines of a human family.
• History is an accident.
• Mercenaries may not win as many wars as fanatics do, but they live longer.
• You can never know enough about a man's self- interest to be able to trust him fully.
• Most of life is waiting around for the shitstorm to start.
• Half of knowledge is knowing the questions.
• Anyone who doesn't fight for his own self- interest has volunteered to fight for someone else's.
• Never turn your back on the villain, especially when he's unconscious.
• Seeing is believing, but belief doesn't amount to much.
• It's a fundamental inequity of the universe, that, while you only have one life to give, you can take as many as you damn well please.
• Screwups, like entropy, always increase over time.
• Never say the problem is over, never mention what else could go wrong, and never say how lucky you are
• there is no surer way of inviting disaster.
• It is never as bad as it seems
• but sometimes it is worse.
• The more complicated the situation, the sooner and more catastrophic the eventual screwup.
• Never play chicken with someone who has nothing to lose.
• Problems are never solved, only replaced.
• Nothing is so fierce as a coward who is backed into a corner.
• It ain't over until the fat lady's dead.
• No one can be quite as annoying as a potential lover.
• Once you have mastered the art of deceiving yourself, deceiving others is that much easier.
• Those who are most sure of themselves are those possessing the fewest facts.
• One can watch everything and see nothing.
• We are the least qualified people to judge ourselves.
• People corrupt power, not vice versa.
• The bureaucracy changes only in response to some grand disaster.
• Better to regret something you have done, than something you haven't.
• If you can keep your head when those about you are losing theirs, you obviously don't know what's going on.
• We hate others for our own shortcomings.
• Nothing hurts so much as the loss of something you've never had.
• The future strikes with blinding speed. The past takes its time and aims carefully.
• It is easier to determine what is profitable than what is right.
• Never underestimate a problem you're running from.
• It's never what you expect.
• Much morality is there for the perception of others.
• Money isn't everything, and neither is anything else.
• Suspect your enemies, but more so your allies
• they can do more damage.
• When you rattle your saber, it becomes difficult to stab someone in the back.
• What you don't know will kill you.
• Any government will kill you if it feels threatened.
• The only escape- proof prison is one's own mind.
• The path out of a problem generally leads to one twice its size.
• Guilt is not a survival trait.
• It's better to hit your opponent when he isn't looking.
• It is pointless to worry once the situation becomes hopeless.
• Past and future are equally clouded by speculation.
• Patriotism is the preferred method of covering one's ass in wartime.
• An egotist takes the universe personally.
• Between too good to be true and worse than you imagine, bet on worse.
• Anything worth the trouble will cost more than you pay for it.
• Sign your name to the universe and someone will auction off the signature.
• Don't bring a knife to a gunfight.
• Half of knowledge is knowing the questions.
• When in doubt, duck.
• You cannot escape the interconnectedness of events.
• Even a saint has ulterior motives.
• Anything can appear to be worse upon further reflection.
• Worry when the man with the gun is smiling.
• Superior technology is not a panacea.
• Dangerous is the man who accepts his own mortality.
• Forget enemies. Be afraid of friends with something to gain.
• Of forgiving and forgetting, the latter is infinitely easier.
• Strong emotional involvement rarely makes the job easier.
• There is no such thing as a secret.
• Don't try to count the players until the game is over.
• Self- examination is not a survival trait in times of crisis.
• The ship's destination doesn't matter when it is sinking.
• Staring outward eventually leads to staring inward. Not vice versa.
• A dependent ally is a resentful one.
• Knowing what is worst does not tell you what is best.
• Bystanders get shot.
• Once you leap, looking makes little difference.
• Never bet on a race you happen to be in.
• If you believe in your own immortality, you will never live to be disappointed.
• Selfishness is a survival trait.
• You don't want to know.
• Look behind the curtain.
• We prefer blame to justice.
• It is easier to conceive large plans than small ones.
• For every man imprisoned, there is a jailer with something to gain.
• A petty enemy is more dangerous than a great one.
• There is no such thing as good news.
• Time always wins.
• The important answers are those to the questions we ask ourselves.
• Conflicts are easier when your opponent doesn't fight back.
• If you wish to damn a man forever, grant him his heart's desire.
• Small risks rarely reap great rewards.
• Free men are slaves who are blind to their chains.
• Look at anything deeply enough and you see yourself looking back.
• Often progress is backing toward something.
• The less you expect, the more satisfied you'll be.
• In a world of crap you hold your nose and swim.
• Things are always darkest before they go completely black.
• The most dangerous lie is the one we force ourselves to believe.
• We only have what we believe we have, and that, rarely.
• A grand exit is preferable to a grand entrance.
• People die.
• We are each alone.
• It is never too late for something bad to happen.
• Sometimes you must attack an enemy at his strength.
• If people chose their parents, most of the world would be childless.
• Keep your eyes on the ball, and duck when someone swings a bat.
• Successful politics consists of allowing everyone to share your enemies.
• No one gets to write their own eulogy.
• Tyrants spring from chaos, and to chaos they eventually return.
• Surrender is always an option.
• A State rots from the bottom up.
• By the time policy descends from the high to the low, the high may no longer exist.
• The ability to control is often inversely proportional to the desire to.
• All of war is unpleasant, including its end.