The Wisdom of Life

In 1996, the Crow was so inspired by the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, that he decided to make his own set of rules for life based around his own personal philosophy and experience.

Known as “the Wisdom of Life”, the rules are sometimes funny, often serious and occasionally dark, and are presented here in completeness for the first time …

1. Nothing of steel is made without fire, and the trials of life are the flames from which we draw strength. [Personal motto]

2. Life is like riding a wild horse - sometimes you think you’re leading the horse, but really the horse’s leading you.

3. Fate - its not what you take, it’s what you make.

4. Life is the assault course of the soul.

5. Discipline is doing what you know to be right over what you feel to be right.

6. Great men hold truth and loyalty above all else, yet will never know peace because of it.

7. The man who claims to know his own mind is the greatest of fools.

8. Money is the drug of society, and we can never get enough to satisfy our ‘fix’.

9. Tears are the juice which flows from the fruit of our humanity.

10. Words can be flowery, but actions are the root of a person.

11. A brave man can embrace his fear, but only a fool knows no fear.

12. The shackles of fear are the heaviest of all.

13. Life is chance, and as long as we have a chance we have hope.

14. True love can never be damaged by the truth.

15. Sometimes hate is just twisted love.

16. A man against the world has allies he doesn’t yet know.

17. Love is when someone else’s happiness is more important than your own.

18. Despair is the greatest killer of all.

19. We cannot change the past, we can only learn from it.

20. Sometimes it seems easier to forget than to forgive.

21. Compassion in the world can be an oasis in the desert.

22. In the pit of despair, you have to clamber to get out.

23. Eccentricity can be a buffer against the madness of the world.

24. Today is the legacy of tomorrow.

25. Even a pawn can bring down a King.

26. Sometimes true qualities can only shine during adversity.

27. Listening does not mean being silent.

28. There is no place to hide from yourself.

29. Joy is better when shared.

30. A friend is the crutch that supports you when you cannot walk alone.

31. Responsibility wears a sombre face.

32. Everyone is wrong sometimes.

33. Guilt is only felt by those with conscience.

34. Desire is the path to insanity.

35. Sometimes words alone cannot heal the hurt inside.

36. Reality can sometimes be surreal in its nature.

37. Respect must be earned, not blindly given.

38. Sometimes we can find strength we don’t know we have.

39. We can live life as a predator, or its prey.

40. Sometimes the enemy within is greater than the enemy outside.

41. In every crisis lurks a hidden opportunity.

42. Laughter can make friends of enemies and enemies of friends.

43. Courage can be contagious.

44. The improbable frequently occurs.

45. Sometimes even the benevolent try to make slaves of us.

46. Our youth is a playground of mistakes.

47. What truth can you believe if you lie even to yourself?

48. Better to have success from failure than failure from success.

49. Love is giving without counting the cost.

50. The easy way up may not be so easy coming down.

51. Justice is the dream which gives us nightmares.

52. Fear keeps us alive, but stops us from living.

53. Never trust a man who smiles more than he should.

54. I am not good corrupted by evil, nor evil redeemed by good. I AM good and I AM evil, locked in perpetual conflict.

55. I am not good, neither am I evil ... but I am conflict.

56. I am the darkest fiend you will call friend.

57. There are 4 billion free spirited people in the world - conflict is inevitable.

58. Life is decay - death is inevitable.

59. The seas are unfathomable - fish is inevitable.

60. Transparency is deceptive - the Sun is black.

61. We hide behind masks even we don’t know we wear.

62. We are each a thousand people with a thousand voices and a thousand dreams.

63. We are all dreamers. And dreamers don’t live in the real world.

64. Desire is a mirage of deception.

65. Hope is the greatest weapon.

66. Time furnishes justice for all.

67. Life is descent - and we haven’t hit rock bottom yet!

68. Looking in your heart is like looking in a mirror - its easy to forget that the truth gets flipped around.

69. I am tomorrow's statistic.

70. A thrown egg never flies.

71. Death relishes whittling the healthy.

72. Never trust a bald barber.

73. Reality blurs where women are present.

74. THEY exist to challenge the concept that descent is inevitable and eternal, and to some THEY are called angels.

75. Evil is seductive, good is terrifying.

76. Patriotism is the slaughterhouse to which we run.

77. Behind the mask of patriotism can lie a monster.

78. I am the axis upon which the world turns.

79. All the world’s a morgue, and men and women merely bodies lining up.

80. The ticking of a clock is the shearing of each second of your life.

81. When democracy fails, we turn to dictators to clear up the mess.

82. Society decrees that reality is defined by group consensus, not hard fact.

83. The first rule of Government is to maintain order.

84. Nothing of value comes cheap.

85. The fantasies of our mind shape our perception of reality.

86. With the passing of each second we are hurled inexorably from the static, settled world of perceived reality and into the realm of the incredible.

87. The mind is the forge of all things.

88. The quest for justice awakes something terrible inside us.

89. Emotions are volatile - the more we suppress them, the greatest the devastation when released.

90. Society exists at the expense of the individual.

91. There is no injustice in a world where might is right.

92. Empires can only be forged by ruthless societies.

93. We must all stand before the eye of eternity and be reckoned.

94. Even in this technological age, bows and arrows still kill.

95. Life is a game, and no-one knows the rules.

96. Nothing ever happens without a reason.

97. One man’s treason is another man’s patriotism.

98. Forbidden fruit is the most tantalizing.

99. We revel in the success of friends - but too much can leave an acrid taste.

100. Fame is the lens which distorts us into larger, grotesque figures.

101. Successful people can claim to be more intelligent than they are, but intelligent people cannot claim to be more successful than they are.

102. Sex is the fleeting moment to which we steer the bulk of our lives.

103. Ambition motivates, desire cripples.

104. The glass may be half full - but is it safe to drink?

105. Torment in inevitable - we can either break our lives to pursue our aspirations, or be haunted by unfulfilled desires.

106. We only notice the good things in life when they are gone.

107. Only in a drunken stupor does life make sense.

108. We can destroy out of hate what we cannot rebuild out of love.

109. Life is impossible - any afterlife will be bizarre still.

110. Society controls us in many subtle ways.

111. The unholy will use religion to cover the most terrible of acts.

112. Time makes great things meek.

113. An empty box may look good, but may not be what we are after.

114. Women never seem to notice anything - but they always remember.

115. I am descent - the journey which in the end will break you.

116. Unrequited love destroys us from within.

117. Love can be more terrible than hate.

118. Emotion can be a road to ruin.

119. We are all the same person shaped differently by chance events.

120. Science can explain many things - and yet they may still feel miraculous.

121. Our understanding of the past is coloured by the prejudice of today.

122. Life is like a ship alone on the ocean, sailing ever on towards an empty horizon.

123. Life is a dynamic equilibrium between the forces of decay and the forces of renewal. Decay is generated by the forces of nature, and is constant and timeless. But renewal comes from within, and though it must eventually falter, for today it is enough.

124. The man who put the cherry on the icing did not necessarily bake the cake.

125. The primary goal of anyone in power is to stay there ...

126. The intelligence used to understand a thing reflects the intelligence which must have been used to create it. Therefore, if an object requires an application of intelligence to understand, it follows it required an application of intelligence to create ...

127. Who really has the courage to speak the truth, and who has the courage to hear it?

128. The only rights the weak have are those the strong allow them...

129. “Time is money” is a phrase only used by managers and prostitutes ...


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