Aphorisms

Selected aphorisms A meeting is a matter of theater (undated 77)

Don’t let people put pressure on you. You put pressure on other people (24 Aug 84)

...I bet heaven also will be a disappointment (12 Jan 85).

Don’t think back.Don’t think forward.Think present. (Prescription for health)(The Epicurean symbol) (3 Nov 85).

If you can’t figure out what it means write it down (15 Dec 85).

Terrorism. To the attacks of the weak against the strong, one must reply with the attacks of the strong against the weak (15 Apr 86).

Existentialism: man is responsible for his own existence (21 Aug 86).

Il ne s’agit pas de ceux qui manipulent les terroristes mais de ceux qui les hébergent (21 Sept 86).

Sex, sleep, and foreign languages are the three involuntaries of our time. Everything else is a voluntary (18 Feb 87).

Of disappointments: put distance between you and the event (i.e. time) (18 Feb 87).

America: the phenomenon of the beautiful blimps (1 Sept 87).

If you’re stuck with it, flaunt it (28 Oct 87).

Of enmities: you must not think that he likes you. And you must not give him the idea that you do not like him (6 Nov 87).

Of immigration: Les E.U. (USA)Personne n’a le monopole (20 Dec 87).

Irony is the highest form of tribute (1 Jan 88).

Auto-suppression is necessary for strength (9 Jan 88).

Pay for the euphoria (24 Jan 88).

Ne pas tolérer la douleurC’est nier l’existence (9 May 88).

La main, passée au visage,Déride, un instant, Les soucis de la vie (30 Jul 88).

Of NSA: The telephone is a dangerous instrument (30 Jul 88).

C’est difficile d’être une fausse barbe (22 Sept 88).

The magic of life is that it doesn’t last. The world would have no magic if it were stasis (2 Oct 88).

Of the end of life: none of this is going to be pleasant (9 Dec 88).

Rogue states, rogue terrorists: The irony -- we cannot retaliate in justice; we can only retaliate in war (4 Jan 89).

...just as there is nothing rational about terrorism, so there is nothing rational about counter-terrorism (4 Jan 89).

The alternatives are great! I have to die anyway (2 Feb 89).

The ultimate disappointment is dying (7 Mar 89).

Le problème du Mal. Comment expliquer les actions de Dieu (23 Mar 89).

My article of faith is E pluribus unum.It is the pluralism which has made us great (23 Mar 89).

What the hell is age? Age is a chronology (5 Apr 89).

Life is a life of struggle and luxury (7 May 89).

Je me dirige cruellement vers un destin inconnu (14 May 89).

AmericaThe élan of the future.The mindless, traditionless Ēlan of the future (14 May 89).

The four commandments of a second existence.
Thou shalt not beg
Thou shalt not consult
Thou shalt not commerce
Thou shalt not garden (14 May 89).

Of the near-end of life: It’s going away; Cultivate a sublime indifference (24 May 89).

He’s so good with people he is virtually totally ineffective (16 Jun 89).

The pre-r.v. option: be prepared for anything to go wrong (16 Jun 89).

Research – it’s learning something about which you know next to nothing (25 Jun 89).

As politics is the art of the possible, intelligence is the art of the possible (9 Jul 89).

Escape from the ordinary, The name of an outfitter, The problem of life (22 Aug 89).

Re media coverage as intelligence input: If you don’t know what people are thinking, listen to what they say (10 Sept 89).

The hostage rescue mission: the analysts, the mavericks, the Bob Headley’s of this world who were talking about the dust storms in southern Iran at that time of year: how to listen to the voices crying in the wilderness (18 Sept 89).

The takeover of the Embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and the U.S. failure to assign reponsibility: how we were fooled by the “nebuleuse” (18 Sept 89).

I come from a world in which one is used to things going wrong. (Cf. the pre-r.v. option: be prepared for anything to go wrong) (20 Sept 89).

Those who talk of intelligence failures often have a failure of intelligence (20 Sept 89).

Writing is the ultimate dignity (14 Nov 89).

France: ’68 reminiscent of ’89: crowds disperse le pouvoir (29 Nov 89).

Only the things of the head count (18 Dec 89).

Creativity is more difficult than technicity (7 Feb 90).

Afin d’enseigner
Il faut exaggérer (2 Mar 90).

Why? Because writing is superior to everything else (7 Apr 90).

A propos of stereotypes: The infinite variety of individuals (8 Apr 90).

On academic guidance: Above all, people need encouragement (3 Apr 90).

Never think of what you were
Never think of what you have become
Only think of prospects (26 Apr 90).

I am calm, to keep from being furious (90 undated).

The struggle to get calm (90 undated).

What better mark of an intelligence officer that he practice it in a foreign language (90 undated)

Unpleasant as it is, there is always something more unpleasant than the truth (14 May 90).

All friendships are friendships of opportunity? (1 Sept 90).

All knowledge is derivative (17 Jan 91).

If you don’t have fun at it, don’t do it (5 Mar 91).

With growing older, every day is different (24 May 91).

Not to be depressed is an act of voluntarism (8 Jun 91).

Non-gloom is a voluntary (9 Jun 91).

I am not a man of conviction. I am a man of observation (9 Jul 91).

The thing that matters is not mattering about time (23 Jul 91).

Will somebody tell those Jihad folks there’s no paradise up there? (11 Sept 01).

Ready to take casualties. Again (11 Sept 01).

…sometimes pure nationalism takes over (8 Oct 01).

Touch paper once (15 Oct 91).

Do the remembered thing first (15 Oct 91).

Writing is gloriously in the blood (15 Nov 91).

We’re having to pay for a career spent having fun (22 Mar 93).

For some people, being on time is a matter of morality (94 undated).

(An exaggeration but): Writing isn’t everything. It’s the only thing (94 undated).

From: a vague feeling that something is lacking, to: suffering on a high.
The Yin and Yang of Stability and Disruption (12 Mar 95).

The sense of the narrative. The sense of the analysis
Or: chronology vs structureCf. the remark of a social scientist “we’ve got to find a principle in all this; otherwise we’ll just be historians” (95 undated).

The best papers are those that are written out but not read (95 undated).

It was about the butchering of two citizens going unpunished, to the accompaniment of a peacock pavane in the courtroom.(O.J. Simpson trial) (18 Nov 95).

J.-F. Deniau:Une vie sans aventure c’est le commun des mortels (Dec 95).

Never refuse a speech (19 Mar 96).

Coffee optimism (6 Mar 99).

The greatest argument in favor of God is that everyone looks different (20 Oct 99).

Camp David II, the Palestinians, and Jerusalem. They’d rather keep longing for it (27 Jul 00). They got us in our diversity (The 9/11 attacks) (11 Sept 02).

Give me the strength to defy Your supposed authority (18 Sept 02).

If it weren’t for bodily functions we would be less ludicrous than we are 02 (undated).

Life is a series of tragedies waiting to happen 02 (undated).

A dangerous loss of faith (15 Dec 02).

One tends to see the end of the world approaching when it is nothing worse than the end of one’s own life (12 Jan 03).

Borrowed time…On this planet (16 Jan 03).

Patience is the lesson (28 Feb 03).

Cultivate the capacity to be surprised (16 Mar 03).

Iraq. No terrorism. No weapons of mass destruction. Just a despicable regime (2 May 03).

Saddam’s capture.The great lesson:You take a leader out by war (14 Dec 03).

Nothing matters
You just wait to die (17 Jul 04).

A deathbed incantation: cruel God (14 Aug 04).

Every day must be different, to lessen the curse of everydayness (5 Sept 04).

“The war on terrorism.”It's like declaring war on land mines (19 Oct 04).

Spin doctors never come clean (20 Jan 05).

I don't think I want to do it over again; Because I want to know what's next (6 Apr 05).

God is a chip (undated).

Agnosticism is humility: I don’t presume to know (Jul 06).

The timid are the most resentful (undated).

S'attendre au pire, espérer au mieux (undated).

The most important thing is not to get mad (undated).

Continue the toughness into the grave (CTTITG) (undated).