The aphorism "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he" contains the secret of life .
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In an aphorism, aptness counts for more than truth.
mason cooleyThe history of Western science confirms the aphorism that the great menace to progress is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge.
daniel j. boorstinAn aphorism is a generalization of sorts, and our present-day writers seem more at home with the particular.
Anatole BroyardSantayana's aphorism must be reversed: too often it is those who can remember the past who are condemned to repeat it.
We have oftener than once endeavoured to attach some meaning to that aphorism, vulgarly imputed to Shaftesbury, which however we can find nowhere in his works, that "ridicule is the test of truth ."
thomas carlyleExclusively of the abstract science, the largest and worthiest portion of our knowledge consists of aphorisms: and the greatest and best of men is but an aphorism.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeWe have oftener than once endeavoured to attach some meaning to that aphorism, vulgarly imputed to Shaftesbury, which however we can find nowhere in his works, that "ridicule is the test of truth."
thomas carlyle‘Aphorizein’, from which we get the word ‘aphorism’, means to retreat to such a distance that a horizon of thought is formed which never again closes on itself.
aphorism, n. Predigested wisdom. The flabby wine-skin of his brain Yields to some pathologic strain, And voids from its unstored abysm The driblet of an aphorism. "The Mad Philosopher," 1697
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.
An aphorism is a speculative principle either in science or morals, which is presented in a few words to the understanding:;; it is the substance of a doctrine, and many aphorisms may contain the abstract of a science
An aphorism is a name but every name can take on the figure of aphorism.
An aphorism is the last link in a long chain of thought.
There is a difference between being witty – quick with the repartee and the insight – and having an aptitude for aphorism.
An aphorism is a generalization, therefore not modern.
john fowlesWithout losing ourselves in a wilderness of definitions, we can all agree that the most obvious characteristic of an aphorism, apart from its brevity, is that it is a generalization. It offers a comment on some recurrent aspect of life, couched in terms which are meant to be permanently and universally applicable.
An aphorism never coincides with the truth: it is either a half-truth or one-and-a-half truths.
One cannot dictate an aphorism to a typist. It would take too long.
An aphorism, honestly stamped and molded, has not yet been “deciphered” once we have read it over; rather, its exegesis for which an art of exegesis is needed has only just begun.
The aphorism is only useful in small measured doses but even then it’s only a kind of intellectual placebo, prompting ideas the reader should have prompted in themselves anyway.
An aphorism ought to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world like a little work of art and complete in itself like a hedgehog.
An aphorism has been defined as a proverb coined in a private mint, and the definition is a happy one; for the aphorism, like the proverb, is the result of observation, and however private and superior the mint, the coins it strikes must, to find acceptance, be made of current metal.
An aphorism is not an argument; it is too well-bred for that.
In an important sense, then, an aphorism is the “pure fool” of discourse, being only simply appearance. Yet the attempt to find it out will stir up the fermentation on which it rests, much in the way that Oedipus brings himself to light. The aphorism presents itself as an answer for which we know not the question.
The aphorism is a mode of symbolic representation that belongs to an era dominated by highly individualized and introverted experience, atomistic thought and feelings, an absence of commonly accepted religious beliefs and moral standards and the general disintegration of traditional culture.
aphorism: what is worth quoting from the soul’s dialogue with itself.
aphorism or maxim, let us remember that this wisdom of life is the true salt of literature; that those books, at least in prose, are most nourishing which are most richly stored with it; and that is one of the great objects, apart from the mere acquisition of knowledge, which men ought to seek in the reading of books.