“Nature, it seems, is the popular name for milliards and milliards and milliards of particles playing their infinite game of billiards and billiards and billiards.” PhilosophyPoetryExistenceInfinite Author:Piet Hein
“WHAT PEOPLE MAY THINK Some people cower and wince and shrink, owing to fear of what people may think. There is one answer to worries like these: people may think what the devil they please.” PeopleThinkThinking For Yourself Author:Piet Hein
“After all, what is art? Art is the creative process and it goes through all fields. Einstein’s theory of relativity – now that is a work of art! Einstein was more of an artist in physics than on his violin. Art is this: art is the solution of a problem which cannot be expressed explicitly until it is solved.” ArtPoetInventorEinstein Book:Grooks 1 Source: Grooks 1
“Art is solving problems that cannot be formulated before they have been solved. The shaping of the question is part of the answer.” ArtDesign Author:Piet Hein
“A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT Stomach-ache can be a curse; heart-ache may be even worse; so thank Heaven on your knees if you've got but one of these.” EncouragementHeartacheAcheStomachache Author:Piet Hein
“Hint And Suggestion : Admonitory grook addressed to youth The human spirit sublimates the impulses it thwarts; a healthy sex life mitigates the lust for other sports.” SpiritSexSportsYouthHuman Author:Piet Hein
“THE ROAD TO WISDOM The road to wisdom? -- Well, it's plain and simple to express: Err and err and err again but less and less and less.” WisdomErrGrook Author:Piet Hein
“A WORD TO THE WISE Let the world pass in its time-ridden race; never get caught in its snare. Remember, the only acceptable case for being in any particular place is having no business there.” Wisdom Book:Grooks 1 Source: Grooks 1
“THE WISDOM OF THE SPHERES How instructive is a star! It can teach us from afar just how small each other are.” StarsSpacePerspectiveStar Author:Piet Hein
“THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF GASTRONOMY There's a rule for proper doses in the dinner-eaters lore: one should stop the filling process while one still has room for more. And if someone at the table had reminded me before - Hallelujah! I'd be able to absorb a little more.” FoodAppetiteDiningSated Author:Piet Hein
“Losing one glove is certainly painful, but nothing compared to the pain, of losing one, throwing away the other, and finding the first one again.” LostLossLosing Author:Piet Hein
“Mankind Men, said the Devil, are good to their brothers: they don’t want to mend their own ways, but each other's.” MankindDevil Author:Piet Hein
“A PSYCHOLOGICAL TIP Whenever you're called on to make up your mind, and you're hampered by not having any, the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find, is simply by spinning a penny. No -- not so that chance shall decide the affair while you're passively standing there moping; but the moment the penny is up in the air, you suddenly know what you're hoping.” HopeDecisionsDecision Making Author:Piet Hein
“PRAYER to the sun above the clouds. Sun that givest all things birth, shine on everything on earth! If that's too much to demand, shine at least on this our land. If even that's too much for thee, shine at any rate on me.” PrayerSun Author:Piet Hein
“BRAVE To be brave is to behave bravely when your heart is faint. So you can be really brave only when you really ain't.” FearBraveryBraveAfraid Author:Piet Hein
“CANDLE WISDOM If you knew what you will know when your candle has burnt low, it would greatly ease your plight while your candle still burns bright.” WisdomAgeYouthCandle Author:Piet Hein
“ABREAST He who aims to keep abreast is for ever second best.” AbreastKeeping Up With The Crowd Author:Piet Hein
“Put up in a place where it is easy to see the cryptic admonishment T.T.T When you feel how depressingly slowly you climb it's well to remember that Things Take Time.” TimeChallengesPatience Author:Piet Hein
“A via da sabedoria é fácil de indicar: - errar, errar, errar! Fazer erros grandes e pequenos, mas sempre menos, sempre menos.” PoesiaMatemática Author:Piet Hein
“VITA BREVIS A lifetime is more than sufficiently long for people to get what there is of it wrong.” LifeMistakes Author:Piet Hein
“DREAM INTERPRETATION Simplified. Everything's either concave or -vex, so whatever you dream will be something with sex.” SexDreamsDream Interpretation Author:Piet Hein
“THE CURE FOR EXHAUSTION Sometimes, exhausted with toil and endeavour, I wish I could sleep for ever and ever; but then this reflection my longing allays: I shall be doing it one of these days.” DeathSleepExhaustion Author:Piet Hein