Irish - Poet | February 9, 1882 - December 26, 1950
Any fool can wash himself, but every wise man knows that it is an unnecessary labour, for nature will quickly reduce him to a natural and healthy dirtiness again.
James Stephens
NatureFoolManWiseWise ManWill
Life runs to death as its goal, and we should go towards that next stage of experience either carelessly as to what must be, or with a good, honest curiosity as to what may be.
LifeGoodExperienceDeathCuriosity
A man and a woman may become quite intimate in a quarter of an hour. Almost certainly will they endeavour to explain themselves to each other before many minutes have elapsed; but a man and a man will not do this, and even less so will a woman and a woman, for these are parallel lines which will never meet.
WomanManMeetWillBecomeNever
The mysteries of death and birth occupy women far more than is the case with men, to whom political and mercantile speculations are more congenial.
WomenMenDeathPoliticalBirthFar
To work is nothing; the king on his throne, the priest kneeling before the Holy Altar, all people in all places had to work, but no person at all need be a servant.
WorkKingPeoplePersonNothing
God did not need any assistance, but man did; bitterly he wanted it, and the giving of such assistance was the proper business of a woman.
BusinessGodWomanManGivingNeed
The inexorable compulsion of all things is towards health or destruction, life or death, and we hasten our joys or our woes to the logical extreme. It is urgent, therefore, that we be joyous if we wish to live.
LifeLiveHealthDeathWishThings
In that wide struggle which we call Progress, evil is always the aggressor and the vanquished, and it is right that this should be so, for without its onslaughts and depredations humanity might fall to a fat slumber upon its cornsacks and die snoring.
StruggleProgressEvilFatDieFall
Man works outwardly and inwardly - after rest, he has energy; after energy, he needs repose; so, when we have given instruction for a time, we need instruction and must receive it, or the spirit faints and wisdom herself grows bitter.
WisdomTimeManEnergyRestNeed
Knowledge, may it be said, is higher than magic and is more to be sought. It is quite possible to see what is happening and yet not know what is forward, for while seeing is believing, it does not follow that either seeing or believing is knowing.
KnowledgeForwardMagicSeeingKnow
The trouble of the king becomes the trouble of the subject, for how shall we live if judgement is withheld, or if faulty decisions are promulgated?
LiveKingDecisionsTroubleHow
When a woman speaks to a man about the love she feels for another man, she is not liked.
LoveWomanManSheLikedAbout
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