Empty words

In Competition No. 2977 you were invited to submit a selection of meaningless, pseudo-profound statements.

Bullshit was defined in a 2005 essay by the philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt as being characterised by a lack of concern for the truth, as distinct from a deliberate intent to deceive (i.e. lying). Which makes this the ideal comp for the post-truth era.

Or is it? Brian Murdoch wasn’t so sure: ‘Given the great pseudo-profundities of the past (“Credo quia impossibile” [Aquinas, T.], “Dasein hat sein zu sein” [Heidegger, M.], “Brexit means Brexit”,’ he writes, ‘what else is there to say?’

Quite a bit more, it seems. The invitation drew a large and accomplished entry. I’m not sure if any of you looked for inspiration to the New Age Bullshit Generator, an online resource for those with a New Age product or service to hawk, which at the click of a mouse offers up such gems as ‘By unfolding, we grow. Being is the healing of balance, and of us.’

But yours were better — and the most successful of all were those that, despite being more or less devoid of any real meaning, nonetheless managed to retain a faint ring of plausibility. The authors of the statements below are rewarded with £5 for each one printed.
 

The camel of forgetfulness knows more than the python of curiosity.
Better an eternal triangle than a vicious circle.
He sees farthest who farthest sees.
Corbyn is to Attlee as the Fun Boy Three were to Rachmaninoff.
Basil Ransome-Davies
 
A pessimist should hope for more than hope.
Bread is just cake with no sense of adventure.
Proximity is but distance viewed in close-up.
Mike Morrison
 
It is sometimes wiser to circle the square than to square the circle.
Frank Osen
 
Only an executioner sharpens his own axe.
Only foolish virgins light their lamps by the waters of Babylon.