Piet Hein (1905 – 1996)
Danish mathematician, scientist, inventor, and poet.
To be and not to be, that is the answer.
Love while you've got
love to give.
Live while you've got
life to live.
Wisdom is
the booby prize
given when you've been
unwise.
The way to grow grand
is not: to demand.
In life's every field
you are what you yield.
Those who always
know what’s best
are
a universal pest.
Co-existence
or no existence.
Shun advice
at any price -
that's what I call
good advice.
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.
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
Experts have
their expert fun
ex cathedra
telling one
just how nothing
can be done.
Freedom means
you're free to do
just whatever
pleases you;
— if, of course
that is to say,
what you please
is what you may.
Men, said the Devil,
are good to their brothers:
they don’t want to mend
their own ways, but each other's.
Somebody said
that Reason was dead.
Reason said: No,
I think not so.
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.
True wisdom knows
it must comprise
some nonsense
as a compromise,
lest fools should fail
to find it wise.
Problems worthy
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back.
People are self-centered
to a nauseous degree.
They will keep on about themselves
while I'm explaining me.
Naive you are
if you believe
life favours those
who aren't naive.
The noble art of losing face
may some day save the human race
and turn into eternal merit
what weaker minds would call disgrace.
There is
one art,
no more,
no less:
to do
all things
with art-
lessness.