The Period of Possibility, when Archimedes finds a fulcrum, Cassandra has a following and seven cities compete for the honor of endowing a living Homer.[hr
Youth is the true Saturnian Reign, the Golden Age on ea]th again, when figs are grown on thistles, and pigs betailed with whistles and, wearing silken bristles, live ever in clover, and cows fly over, delivering milk at every door, and Justice never is heard to snore, and every assassin is made a ghost and, howling, is cast into Baltimost!
—Polydore Smith
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

n. excuse to take a break

interestingly at all developing countries


(also: developing countries which never developing)

(n.) thing that is not to be disclosed or revealed. as the saying goes, three may keep a secret if two of them are dead

a trough to feed gold to young children

n.

---

Once Law was sitting on the bench,
And Mercy knelt a-weeping.
"Clear out!" he cried, "disordered wench!
Nor come before me creeping.
Upon your knees if you appear,
'Tis plain you have no standing here."

Then Justice came. His Honor cried:
"Your status? — devil seize you!"
"Amica curiæ," she replied —
"Friend of the court, so please you."
"Begone!" he shouted — "there's the door —
I never saw your face before!"
—G.J.

(also: law of triviality)

(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

here's my hot take*: what's moral isn't always legal, what's legal isn't always moral.

legality and morality have a venn-diagram relationship, you know. they might mostly overlap, but dear god, please don't confuse one for the other. society's good at a lot of things, but accounting for nuanced situations through legal code.. is, uh, not one of them.
be your own pillar of strength and morality. be accountable to yourself. you know when you are crossing those lines, and you know it will backfire -- not necessarily because someone comes to punish you directly, but because what comes up must go down. and you need to know that when you transgress, you can make amends and redeem yourself. not because some legal system tells you 'pay $10000 or a year in prison or whatever, and it will make the situation better', but because you have learned and you have changed.

* /s, it's not even that hot.. but people act like what's legal is moral & vice versa with such conviction sometimes.

(also: normal vs moral)

bil·lion·aire CEO lives on em·ploy·ee's sal·a·ry | ˌbilyəˈner ˌsēˈēˈō ˈlivz ɒn ɛmˈplɔɪˌiz ˈsæləri |
noun
a modern-day fairytale in which a billionaire CEO, known for their insatiable greed and exploitation of workers, miraculously sustains their extravagant lifestyle by siphoning off meager salaries from their hardworking employees.

seafaring gentlemen of the nordic persuasion circa the ninth and tenth centuries, who made their living pillaging and raiding and reaving and so on

today remembered either as savage unwashed brutes or as admirable noble savage types (mostly by fans of heavy metal)

adj. Belonging to me if I can hold or seize it.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.

(n., of a rise to power) rapid and momentous. Because of course meteors are known mostly for how they rise

One who holds the belief that a clergyman is a priest. Denial of this momentous doctrine is the hardiest challenge that is now flung into the teeth of the Episcopalian church by the Neo-Dictionarians.
(also: dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

(also: Birthday Suit)

People petting you for no real reason.

An argumentative implement formerly much used in persuading devotees of a false faith to embrace the living truth. As a call to the unconverted the rack never had any particular efficacy, and is now held in light popular esteem.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

sexily delirious from the oppressive heat.

a quote whose author needn't be MLA-cited

(n.) a place that promises free jam tomorrow, provided prospective visitors have forgone jam today; reaching such a place is the central tenet of most major religions

(also: religion)

(n.) the internet's child of grammar and humour, of play on words, of interweaving references

(also: sex); a more sophisticated word for the same

that which occurs between two people who love each other very much, or alternatively if they just sort of liked each other, or even if they despised each other but were particularly drunk, lonely or desperate for affection.