Finding a thought for an aphorism is not hard. Putting a kink in its tail is the hard part.

Pain narrows consciousness; pleasure blurs it.

When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows.

My passions have never jumped out of the fireplace and set fire to the carpet.

Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not a return to the hedonism of youth

The sewing machine joins what the scissors have cut asunder, plus whatever else comes in its path.

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.

The laughter of the aphorism is sometimes triumphant, but seldom carefree.

'Be faithful to your roots' is the liberal version of 'Stay in your ghetto.'

Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed.

Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.

Balance in the body is the foundation for balance in life.

No matter how successful you've been in the past the question is what's your next miracle.

life before the monster

Mike Topp is a disablingly funny writer--a miniaturist of nervous precisions, our supreme abridger of metropolitan startlement and inner fidgetry. He dazes and graces us.

Successful trout fishing isn't a matter of brute force or even persistence, but something more like infiltration.

In the United States, if one family out of every four churches adopted a child, there would be no orphans in the country

Don't worry so much about your self-esteem. Worry more about your character. Integrity is its own reward.

If I am not working, I won't wear makeup and I will wear flats.

Like the intense fire that transforms iron into steel, as we remain faithful during the fiery trial of our faith, we are spiritually refined and strengthened.

You must not let hatred destroy you. You will lose your soul.