Asherisms: For Asher, maxims are a way of storing his voluminous thinking on any given subject via easy-access file labels in the soul. He's been writing them since 1992, when he read Kahlil Gibran's aphorisms in Sand and Foam, and he was spurred on a bit by Oscar Wilde. Some of his maxims are personal, and some are about the world, life, the universe, writing, love, pain, monsters, and nearly anything else he encounters. Some are things that go into making characters and stories and should be considered merely speculative and not taken too seriously.
Asher’s 725th Maxim
A vote does not confer immunity for a crime.
Asher’s 724th Maxim
Never ague with someone who can’t distinguish a question of fact from a matter of opinion.
Asher’s 723rd Maxim
Socialism is the Scientology of politics.
Asher’s 722nd Maxim
The tyrannies of children are simply more transparent than those of their elders.
Asher’s 721st Maxim
The post-civilized will eventually ruin anything.
Asher’s 720th Maxim
Kids create tyrannies – if not around appearance, then around thought.
Asher’s 719th Maxim
Revenge is best served in advance.
Asher’s 718th Maxim
No one can tell you who you are, but no one should try to figure out who they are without a friend.
Asher’s 717th Maxim
Projects get done by relentless consistency—by making small increments non-negotiable, and seizing quantum opportunities when available.
Asher’s 716th Maxim
I used to think the most valuable thing I have is my freedom; but more valuable than that is knowing who I am.
Asher’s 715th Maxim
Vice is when we try to fill a need illicitly, because it’s not getting filled otherwise.
Asher’s 714th Maxim
It’s inconsistent for people to want all the wrath and rage of the Old Testament but not all the rules.
Asher’s 709th Maxim
The cliquish person is the least comfortable and most out of place of everyone in the room.
Asher’s 713th Maxim
I don’t approve of revenge, so when I engage in it, I’m proactive about it.
Asher’s 712th Maxim
Being happy and being content are different things; I’m much happier not deciding I’m finished already.
Asher’s 711th Maxim
To win a game you hate, you have to create your own rules and define winning as your own enjoyment.
Asher’s 710th Maxim
If you want to actually enjoy yourself at a cocktail party, give everyone permission to let their guard down.
Asher’s 708th Maxim
When there’s posturing, bluster, and one-upsmanship at a social gathering, just bring up art.
Asher’s 709th Maxim
Social situations are a process of uncovering what another person really geeks out about.
Asher’s 707th Maxim
An art studio is made of time.
Asher’s 706th Maxim
Saying “like” in every other sentence is contrary to New York values. New York is direct, not circuitous; it doesn’t pad things.
Asher’s 705th Maxim
The sin in my generosity to the poor is that I’m buying an avoidance; I’m paying the fear that an anguished person will want to be my friend.
Asher’s 704th Maxim
I don’t judge myself by what little I give but by the generosity I withhold.
Asher’s 703rd Maxim
The problem with average people of high intelligence is feeling they have more license to blend bias and conjecture with reason.