The real secrets are not the ones I tell.
Mason Cooley

The sage belongs to the same obsolete repertory as the virtuous maiden and the enlightened monarch.
Mason Cooley

The shades of respectability begin to close about the greying head.
Mason Cooley

The time I kill is killing me.
Mason Cooley

The wisdom of age: don't stop walking.
Mason Cooley

There are different rules for reading, for thinking, and for talking. Writing blends all three of them.
Mason Cooley

Think carefully before asking for justice. Mercy might be safer.
Mason Cooley

Thinking about the universe has now been handed over to specialists. The rest of us merely read about it.
Mason Cooley

Three meals plus bedtime make four sure blessings a day.
Mason Cooley

To be successful be ahead of your time, but only a little.
Mason Cooley

To confer dignity, forgive. To express contempt, forget.
Mason Cooley

To understand a literary style, consider what it omits.
Mason Cooley

To understand someone, find out how he spends his money.
Mason Cooley

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

Travelers never think that they are the foreigners.
Mason Cooley

Ultimately, blind faith is the only kind.
Mason Cooley

Unlike the actual, the fictional explains itself.
Mason Cooley

We are more tied to our faults than to our virtues.
Mason Cooley

We are prepared for insults, but compliments leave us baffled.
Mason Cooley

Well-behaved: he always speaks as if his mother might be listening.
Mason Cooley