• 'Difference' should be welcomed, not feared. It makes life....interesting.

• Never be in a hurry to spend money - especially your own.

• Nothing is ever quite as simple as it at first appears.

• " The best laid schemes o' mice an' men,  gang aft a-gley. " ('Rabbie' Burns)

• Life is like a shit sandwich - the more bread you've got, the less shit you have to eat.

• Mankind's tragedy is that he has always been prepared to kill for an idea.

• Rulers fear the people they rule, and behave accordingly - and then some!

• Always have something to look forward to - it keeps you going.

• If you want to change the world, be a scientist!

• You're never lonely in a single bed.

• Her Majesty's Government can damage your health.

• Plan A: always have a Plan B.

• The new world order - the U.S.A. rules the world. Get used to it!

• You can't create wealth - you merely pass it around.

• The world's nation states, and the governments that control them, are the oldest and most ruthless terrorist organisations of them all.

• The whole world is mad, except me.

As for the 'human condition', I think Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave', and Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs' theory, says it all.

Lastly, 'The Meaning of Life':-

You get born, then live a little by experiencing different things (and if you're lucky, have a whale of a time doing it), and then you die. That's it. Sorry!

This isn't to say that I've now worked everything out - I still haven't got answers to:-

• Does an empty road go anywhere?
• When 'is' Beethoven's Fifth?
• What if Einstein's wrong?
• Why are the buses always late on a Friday?
• Why do I bloody bother!

but I'm working on it!