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An 'aphorism' (literally ''distinction'' or ''definition'', from
Greek αφοριζειν "to define") expresses a general truth in a pithy sentence.
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Examples
Usually an 'aphorism' is a very concise statement expressing a general truth or wise observation often in a clever way. Sometimes aphorisms rhyme, sometimes they have repeated words or phrases, and sometimes they have two parts that are of the same grammatical structure. Some examples include:
★ ''Science is organized knowledge.'' —
Herbert Spencer
★ ''Lost time is never found again.'' —
Benjamin Franklin
★ ''Greed is a permanent slavery.'' —
Ali
★ ''Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.'' —
Ralph Waldo Emerson
★ ''Death with dignity is better than life with humiliation.'' —
Husayn ibn Ali
★ ''That which does not destroy us makes us stronger.'' —
Nietzsche
★ ''It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.'' —
Mark Twain
★ ''If you see the teeth of the lion, do not think that the lion is smiling to you.'' —
Al-Mutanabbi
★ ''It's dangerous to beat your chest if you have a heart of stone.'' — Leonid S. Sukhorukov
★ ''When your legs get weaker time starts running faster.'' —
Mikhail Turovsky
★ ''Many of those who tried to enlighten were hanged from the lampposts.'' —
Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
★ ''The psychology of committees is a special case of the psychology of mobs.'' —
Celia Green[Celia Green, ''The Decline and Fall of Science'', Hamish Hamilton, London, 1976. Reissued by Oxford Forum, Oxford, 2006.].
★ ''Believe nothing you hear, and only half of what you see.'' —
Mark Twain
★ ''I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I'm not.'' —
Kurt Cobain
★ ''A lie told often enough becomes the truth.'' —
Vladimir Lenin
★ ''Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long. And in the end, it's only with yourself.'' —
Mary Schmich
It can embody humour or be tied to some overworked statement, such as:
★ ''One man's meat is another man's poison.''
★ ''One man's trash is another man's treasure.''
The name was first used in the ''Aphorisms'' of
Hippocrates, a long series of propositions concerning the symptoms and diagnosis of disease and the art of healing and medicine. The term came to be applied later to other sententious statements of physical science and later still to statements of all kinds of principles.
Care should be taken not to confound ''aphorisms'' with
''axioms''. Aphorisms come into being as the result of experience. This is also often the case with axioms (see
axiomatization;
Euclidean geometry), but due to their apparent certainty, axioms are then regarded as assertions not requiring proof, and used as the starting point for further
deductive reasoning. Aphorisms have been especially used in dealing with subjects such as art, agriculture, medicine, jurisprudence and politics, to which little methodical or scientific treatment was applied at the time.
The ''Aphorisms'' of Hippocrates form by far the most celebrated as well as the earliest collection of the kind. They include:
★ ''"Old men support abstinence well: people of a ripe age less well: Young folk badly, and children less well than all the rest, particularly those of them who are very lively."''
★ ''"Those who are very fat by nature are more exposed to die suddenly than those who are thin."''
★ ''"When two illnesses arrive at the same time, the stronger silences the weaker."''
The first aphorism, perhaps the best known of all, which serves as a kind of introduction to the book, runs:
:''"Life is short, art is long, opportunity fugitive, experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult: it is necessary not only to do oneself what is right, but also to be seconded by the patient, by those who attend him, by external circumstances."''
Aphorism and literature
Aphoristic collections, sometimes known as
wisdom literature, have a prominent place in the canons of several ancient societies: E.g. the
Biblical Book of Proverbs,
Islamic
Hadith,
Hesiod's ''Works and Days'', or
Epictetus' Handbook. Aphoristic collections also make up an important part of the work of some modern authors, such as
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg,
Friedrich Nietzsche,
Franz Kafka,
Karl Kraus,
La Rouchefoucauld,
Thomas Szasz,
Stanislaw Jerzy Lec,
Mikhail Turovsky,
Celia Green,
Robert A. Heinlein,
Gay Walley, and
Leonard Wisdon.
Poetics of the aphorism
Some
sociolinguists consider the aphorism a compressed poetic
genre in itself. Aphorisms typically make extensive use of such devices as
alliteration ('''p'enny wise, 'p'ound foolish''),
anaphora ('''a penny' saved is 'a penny' earned'') and
rhyme (''a stitch in 'time' saves 'nine''').
Consider, for example, the aphorism ''"Children should be seen and not heard"'', which has persisted in common usage despite many compelling objections to its wisdom. Whatever the value of its message, the phrase could, in fact, be considered a masterpiece of oral-poetic art.
''"Children should be seen and not heard"'' contains emphatic repetition of the consonants ''n'' and ''d'' (''Chil'd're'n' shoul'd' be see'n' a'nd' 'n'ot hear'd'''). Metrically, it consists of four syllables without strong rhythmical marking (''Children should be'') followed by a pronounced
choriamb ('''seen' and not 'heard'''). It is thus remarkably similar to octosyllabic verse-forms found in many ancient literatures, including
Sappho's lyrics and the hymns of the
Rig-Veda.
Aphorism and society
In a number of cultures, such as
Samuel Johnson's England and
tribal societies throughout the world, the ability to spontaneously produce aphoristic sayings at exactly the right moment is a key determinant of social status.
Many societies have traditional sages or
culture heroes to whom aphorisms are commonly attributed, such as the
Seven Sages of Greece,
Confucius or
King Solomon.
Misquoted or misadvised aphorisms are frequently used as a source of humour; for instance, wordplays around aphorisms appear in the works of
P. G. Wodehouse,
Terry Pratchett and
Douglas Adams (e.g.
Zaphod Beeblebrox saying "Right now I need aphorisms like I need holes in my heads"). Aphorisms being misquoted by sports players, coaches and commentators forms the basis of
Private Eye's Colemanballs section.
Aphorists
An 'aphorist' is someone who produces or collects aphorisms. Famous aphorists include:
Notes
The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism. By James Geary
See also
★
Adage
★
Book of Proverbs
★
Cliché
★
Ecclesiastes
★
Ecclesiasticus
★
Epigram
★
Gospel of Thomas
★
Maxim
★
Proverb
★
Pseudo-Phocylides
References
★
★ "Itch of Wisdom" by
Mikhail Turovsky, Hemlock Press 1990 (English edition)
External links
★
Aphorisms galore . Famous quotations and sayings listed by authors and categories.
★
Contemporary maxims and aphorisms. Modern and popular aphorisms.
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