“I begin to speak only when I’m certain what I’ll say isn’t better left unsaid.”
– Cato
“I begin to speak only when I’m certain what I’ll say isn’t better left unsaid.”
– Cato
“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
– Epictetus
“We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”
– Marcus Aurelius
Let’s spend the rest of July reading from the wisdom of the Stoic philosophers. Here’s one of my favourites from the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.
“At daybreak, when loth to rise, have this thought ready in thy mind: ‘I am rising for a man’s work.’ Am I then still peevish that I am going to do that for which I was born and for the sake of which I came into the world? Or was I made for this, that I should nuzzle under the bed-clothes and keep myself warm? ‘But this is pleasanter!’ Hast thou been made then for pleasure?”
2012 Runner-Up in the Purple Prose Category:
Corinne considered the colors (palest green, gray and lavender) and texture (downy as the finest velvet) and wondered, “How long have these cold cuts been in my refrigerator?” — Linda Boatright, Omaha, NE
2012 Winner, Romance
“I’ll never get over him,” she said to herself and the truth of that statement settled into her brain the way glitter settles on to a plastic landscape in a Christmas snow globe when she accepted the fact that she was trapped in bed between her half-ton boyfriend and the wall when he rolled over on to her nightgown and passed out, leaving her no way to climb out. — Karen Hamilton, Seabrook, TX
2014 Runner-Up, Vile Puns
Dr. Fulton Crisp DMD, stoic superintendent of the prestigious Northwoods Dental College, entered the symposium for new students, took the dais amid the clamor of the first day of classes, produced a #6 dental pick from a pocket, held it aloft for all to see and spoke the immortal words, “May I have your attention please, this is not a drill, repeat this is not a drill.” — Jim Biggie
2015 Dishonourable Mention, Romance
It was debatable what Felicity enjoyed most about the night – the delicious dinner, the marvelous movie, or the satisfying sex – but one thing was clear and that was that she hoped she wouldn’t be doing it alone again next time. — Randy Blanton, Murfreesboro, TN
2015 Dishonourable Mention, Romance
As he caressed her hair, cheek, forehead, chin, collarbone, shoulder, upper arm, and stomach, she knew that her decision to take Octoman as a lover was the correct one. — Lynda Clark, Nottingham, UK
2015 Winner, Western:
Spurs a-jangling, Black Bert sauntered to the bar and cried “this town ain’t big enough!”— then gulped a whisky, fingered his six-shooter, and belched—”so I say we annex Dry Gulch, thus increasing our tax base while simultaneously reducing fixed costs through economies of scale.” — Joel Phillips, West Trenton, NJ