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Say What? Aphorisms make it brief, make it clear.

May 5, 2016 by ehesson@pvs.org 3 Comments

Henry exclaimed suddenly, “The Oxford Book of Aphorisms! Whoa! There is something I want to buy!” Now, Henry is in the process of slimming down his collectio1219254n of books. He’s moving across the country to George Washington U and has no room for more books. So, we went on a hunt to compile a brief collection of these brief sayings for Henry.

An aphorism is, according to literarydevices.net, “a statement of truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty manner. The term is often applied to philosophical, moral and literary principles. To qualify as an aphorism, it is necessary for a statement to contain a truth revealed in a terse manner.”

What follows are our favorite found aphorisms on Advice, Respect, Love, Failure, Motivation, and Computers.

 

“Most people, when they come to you for advice, come to have their own opinions strengthened, not corrected.”

–Henry Wheeler Shaw

 

“Respect is greater at a distance.”

–Publius Cornelius Tacitus

 

“If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.”

–Winnie the Pooh

20aphorisms5

“There are two kinds of failures: those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought.”

–Laurence Johnston Peter

 

“All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.”

–James Thurber

 

“Never trust a computer you can’t throw out a window.”

–Steve Wozniak

 

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”

–Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Try an aphorism. Share it with us. Focus on brevity and clarity to find your way into an idea. For you Romantics out there, Henry has provided links to his favorite romantic aphorism cites: for romantic lines from Wuthering Heights, go to https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1565818-wuthering-heights; for the most romantic lines in the UK, go to http://uk.reuters.com/article/arts-us-books-romance-idUKTRE7198H220110210; and for Buzzfeed’s “43 Most Romantic Lines,” go to https://www.buzzfeed.com/juliapugachevsky/most-romantic-lines-from-literature?utm_term=.nfR7yLN0w#.yhlnmYaxG.

bob-marleys-aphorism

Filed Under: Letters Tagged With: aphorism, Henry, terse, witty

Comments

  1. Ms. Dean says

    May 5, 2016 at 11:46 pm

    “Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I remember, Involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin

    “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Laozi

    Henry,
    So happy for your involvement and wishing you much luck as you take the next step on your journey.

    Ms. Dean

    Reply
  2. Zhenzhou hu says

    May 6, 2016 at 2:20 am

    Yesterday,life is not easy;Today,lifr is hard;Tomorrow,life will be harder than today. —-Pessimistic Hugh

    Reply
  3. W Romatko says

    May 6, 2016 at 5:47 am

    For any job, you will have the choice of three options.
    A great job
    A fast job
    A cheap job
    You can only choose one option per job.
    This means if you want to do a great job, it won’t be fast or cheap.
    If you want to do a cheap job, it won’t be great or fast.
    If you want a fast job, it won’t be cheap or great.

    A sign in an auto repair garage

    Reply

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We are the Palm Valley Firebirds of Rancho Mirage, California. Join us in our endeavors. Venture through the school year with us, perusing the artwork of our students, community, and staff. Our goal is to share the poems, stories, drawings and photographs, essays and parodies that come out of our school. Welcome aboard!