A.R. Post's Thirteen Laws

Throughout all of history there have been attempts to explain away the universe; entire tomes have been written, religions created, wars fought, people killed, in the name of explaining the cardinal laws that govern our world. I have decided to aid the cause of world sanity by once and for all laying out the "is" of all existence. After much study it has been my conclusion that there are thirteen laws with which we can explain all of existence. Some would say that the fact that they are thirteen in number is bad luck, but I can tell you if I had a place for a fourteenth law it would be, "there is no such thing as an unlucky number." Besides, if you went to the donut shop would you prefer a plain old dozen or the baker's dozen?

Cardinal Law # 1: All men are quite fallible.

Cardinal Law # 2: Because of the truth of Law # 1, all totalistic dogmas are to be rejected as bunk, baloney, hooey, and poppycock.

Cardinal Law # 3: The majority is always vulgar, therefore wise and cultured men are always few and far between.

Cardinal Law # 4: Because of the truth of Laws # 1 and # 3, we must not expect democracy fulfill any of its promises.

Cardinal Law # 5: Animals and human beings alike have two central drives; to survive and to reproduce. Nothing can diminish this, so these desires must be lived with.

Cardinal Law # 6: Chances are you will find somebody who would pay for anything and somebody else who would sell it.

Cardinal Law # 7: Men are not created equal, some people are better than others no matter which way you look at it.

Cardinal Law # 8: Some people cannot be helped because they refuse to do anything to help themselves.

Cardinal Law # 9: There will always be people who think that violence is the best path to what they want, therefore it pays to be vigilant.

Cardinal Law # 10: There are some things we just don't know; among them is whether or not there are things we will never know.

Cardinal Law # 11: No man is any position to determine what mode of life, conditions, or anything else will bring happiness to other men.

Cardinal Law # 12: No matter how much you long for the "good old days," history never reverses course.

Cardinal Law # 13: You are going to be dead someday; not taking risks only delays this by a little while.