“Aphorism” is a slightly vague term, especially compared to some of its grammar fellows. An aphorism doesn’t have to follow any strict grammatical rule, unlike palindromes or pangrams. Instead, an ...

The origins of the aphorism are both elevated and abject, as fits a literary form of sublime ambition that is at present in a kind of disgrace. The English word, which seems first to have been used in ...

Short Flights: Thirty-two Modern Writers Share Aphorisms of Insight, Inspiration, and Wit, edited by James Lough and Alex Stein. Schaffner Press. 236 pages. $16.95. Last Aphorisms, by JPJ.

“Almost all books of aphorisms, which have ever acquired a reputation, have retained it,” John Stuart Mill wrote in 1837, aphoristically—that is to say, with a neat if slightly dubious finality. (“How ...

An aphorism is a short or pithy statement that expresses a general truth. Some aphorisms are truisms, obvious on their face, but they still convey useful ideas. One of the best known aphorisms is Ben ...

The aphorism has fallen so badly out of favour that even the word itself now seems to present people with difficulties. After a reading the other week, a girl told me how much she was "looking forward ...

Aphorism is from a Greek word and means to define. It is generally a one-liner used tersely to convey a perspective in a way that once bitten by it you are seldom likely to forget it in a hurry. Some ...

In an 1895 newspaper column, “Mr. Dooley,” a character created by the writer Finley Peter Dunne observes: “Sure, politics ain’t bean-bag. ‘Tis a man’s game, an’ women, childer, cripples an’ ...

Bestselling author and happiness expert Gretchen Rubin has distilled life lessons into a new book of aphorisms, "Secrets of Adulthood," out today. Why it matters: Profound truths often come in small ...