afewaphorismsfrommybook ascolo 1. He who is a good listener takes things in jest only in relation to the speaker: more importantly, the same rule he applies to himself, so that he knows exactly when to leave a conversation. 2. The value of knowledge-- is not that the 'ante ferit, quam flamma micet' of morals in the first place? 3. The charm of wisdom would be a mere nugae canorae, were it not that so much of our pity spoils on the long trek towards it. 4. If a woman genuinely possesses elegance, this simply means that she also keeps with her always her typical inclinations and ambitions- and also the means to fulfilling them. 5. The nature of a man's courtship descends into the lowest chambers of his spirit, and determines it- for a man courts with even his shames and miseries. 6. Solitary men become risible precisely by what disgusts and makes others uncomfortable-- by everything which speaks to the inner life, which speaks to the things we do only when we are alone, commonly the objects of shame, the 'obscene.' Yet their little alienis mensibus aestas may be seen to bring a greater relief to them than the most mirthful summers. 7. One may only trust a deeply saracastic individual in moments of great humiliation: either of their own or of the sarcastic person. 8. Our self-love is most difficult to please just when our self-pity has been delighted: the latter pleasure is so much more stimulating than the other, that the first is immediately turned down out of the ambition for a further stimulation. 8. One seeks a Cephissus, [a river in Greece that turns anything submerged into it as white as fleece] for his shames, for his perverse desires, so that he may make them appear to be mere weaknesses: so that he may not betray himself of those desires in the way he talks, behaves, etc. around his partner, the other is just gracious enough that she offers to cleanse them for him: a successful affair thus originates. 090607 what's it to you? who go blather from