The hunter for aphorisms on human nature has to fish in muddy water; and he is even condemned to find much of his own mind.
Aphorism Quotes
The great writers of aphorisms read as if they had all known each other well.
The aphorism is cultivated only by those who have known fear in the midst of words, that fear of collapsing with all the words.
Exclusively of the abstract sciences, the largest and worthiest portion of our knowledge consists of aphorisms, and the greatest, and best of men is but an aphorism.
The only way to read a book of aphorisms without being bored is to open it at random and, having found something that interests you, close the book and meditate.
All of us encounter, at least once in our life, some individual who utters words that make us think forever. There are men whose phrases are oracles; who can condense in one sentence the secrets of life; who blurt out an aphorism that forms a character, or illustrates an existence.
It’s the danger of the aphorism that it states too much in trying to be small.
We endeavor to stuff the universe into the gullet of an aphorism.
Anthologies of aphorisms are usually arranged according to themes. This is not the best method for the aphorism, because it often has several themes and interpretations.
Perhaps the excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some obvious and useful truth in a few words. We frequently fall into error and folly, not because the true principles of action are not known, but because, for a time, they […]
