I love writing Secrets of Adulthood, and I’ve been writing them by the hundreds. Stay tuned to hear more about that project!
One variety of Secrets of Adulthood that I love is one that follows a very specific form: “No __, no__.”
These kinds of Secrets are thought-provoking, because they help me understand the sometimes surprising relationship between two ideas.
I’ll read these examples slowly, to give you a moment to consider them. Do you agree or disagree?
- No endings, no beginnings.
- No garden, no weeds.
- No prediction, no surprise.
- No wrong answer, no right answer.
- No Plato, No Socrates.
- No believer, no blasphemer.
- More danger for acrobats, more enjoyment for spectators.
- No pressure, no diamond.
- No fear, no danger.
- No fields, no famine.
- No expectations, no disappointment.
- No quest, no grail.
- No intention, no meaning.
- Bigger lawn, more mowing.
- No Hitler, no Churchill. (I mention Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill, my biography of Churchill.)
- No crowds, no masterpiece.
- More highways, more traffic. Here’s a “Little Happier” about that paradox: Building More Roads Won’t Relieve Traffic–Literally and Figuratively.
- More trains, more train wrecks.
- More opportunity, more temptation.
- More subway stops, more drownings.
- More choices, more regrets.
- More love, more loss.
- More knowledge, more questions.
If you have any examples yourself, please send them my way.