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Top Twenty Aphorisms

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Aphorisms are often considered miniature poems because they often use artful language to change our perspectives on the world. Here are some of the most effective aphorisms to date.

Rated 0 points - posted 14 years ago by phdlist in category Books.

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1.

“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” (Stanislaw Jerzy Lec)

25 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

2.

“The poet must not cross an interval with a step when he can cross it with a leap.” (Joseph Joubert)

18 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

3.

“I didn’t really say everything I said.” (Yogi Berra)

This aphorism’s strength is in the phrase’s seemingly-nonsensical statement which makes complete sense with further thought.

14 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

4.

“I want death to find me planting my cabbages.” (Michel de Montaigne)

The simplicity of the desire to die healthily, unexpectedly, and mundanely is driven home with the very concrete example of not just gardening, but specifically planting one’s cabbages.

11 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

5.

“All stones are broken stones.” (James Richardson)

10 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

6.

“Nothing that is complete breathes.” (Antonio Porchia)

9 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

7.

“An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world.” (George Santayana)

9 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

8.

“It is impossible to carry the torch of truth without singeing someone’s beard.” (Georg Christoph Lichtenberg)

This is the ultimate example of the higher truth an aphorism can discover by applying a metaphor to the literal world.

8 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

9.

“Some things become so completely our own that we forget them.” (Antonio Porchia)

A perfect use of the aphorism to point out what readers already know but have likely never stopped to consider.

7 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

10.

“Do not always finish the same book.” (Rachel Blau DuPlessis)

Excellent, startling advice for both readers and writers.

6 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

11.

“All that is essential can be summed up in a book, a lamp, and one’s own company.” (Kenko the Monk)

6 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

12.

“I love for the sake of what I loved, and what I loved would not go back to loving.” (Antonio Porchia)

5 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

13.

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” (Thich Nhat Hanh)

5 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

14.

“Do not regard as valuable anything that can be taken away.” (Seneca)

2 points - added 14 years ago by phdlist -

15.

“If, as they say, I am only an ignorant man trying to be a philosopher, then that may be what a philosopher is.” (Diogenes)