Download or read book The Oxford Book of Aphorisms written by John Gross and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 1983 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gathers witty quotations about nature, religion, fear, hope, fame, wealth, politics, marriage, happiness, knowledge, language, and death

Download or read book A Theory of the Aphorism written by Andrew Hui and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-17 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aphorisms-- or philosophical short sayings--appear everywhere, from Confucius to Twitter, the Buddha to the Bible, Heraclitus to Nietzsche. Yet despite this ubiquity, the aphorism is the least studied literary form. What are its origins? How did it develop? How do religious or philosophical movements arise from the enigmatic sayings of charismatic leaders? And why do some of our most celebrated modern philosophers use aphoristic fragments to convey their deepest ideas? In A Theory of the Aphorism, Andrew Hui crisscrosses histories and cultures to answer these questions and more. With clarity and precision, Hui demonstrates how aphorisms-- ranging from China, Greece, and biblical antiquity to the European Renaissance and nineteenth century--encompass sweeping and urgent programs of thought. Constructed as literary fragments, aphorisms open new lines of inquiry and horizons of interpretation. In this way, aphorisms have functioned as ancestors, allies, or antagonists to grand systems of philosophy. Encompassing literature, philology, and philosophy, the history of the book and the history of reading, A Theory of the Aphorism invites us to reflect anew on what it means to think deeply about this pithiest of literary forms.

Download or read book How to Write Aphorisms written by Nathan Coppedge and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-01-15 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nathan Coppedge, previously the author of the 1-Page-Classics, describes a comprehensive body of techniques advanced enough to yield full-fledged aphorisms of any length and complexity.

Download or read book Geary s Guide to the World s Great Aphorists written by James Geary and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2008-12-08 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Both an expert and a collector, James Geary has devoted his life to aphorisms-and the last few years to organizing, indexing, and even translating them. The result is Geary's Guide, featuring aphorists like Voltaire, Twain, Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Woody Allen, Muhammad Ali, Emily Dickinson, and Mae West, as well as international practitioners appearing in English for the first time. But it is more than just a conventional anthology. It is also an encyclopedia, containing brief biographies of each author in addition to a selection of his or her aphorisms. The book is a field guide, too, with aphorists organized into eight different "species," such as Comics, Critics & Satirists; Icons & Iconoclasts; and Painters & Poets. The book's two indexes-by author and by subject-make it easily searchable, while its unique organizational structure and Geary's lively biographical entries set it apart from all previous reference works. A perfect follow-up to Geary's New York Times bestseller The World in a Phrase, Geary's Guide is eminently suitable for browsing or for sustained reading. A comprehensive guide to our most intimate, idiosyncratic literary form, the book is an indispensable tool for writers and public speakers as well as essential reading for all language lovers.

Download or read book Essays and Aphorisms written by Arthur Schopenhauer and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2004-08-26 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the greatest philosophers of the nineteenth century, Schopenhauer (1788-1860) believed that human action is determined not by reason but by 'will' - the blind and irrational desire for physical existence. This selection of his writings on religion, ethics, politics, women, suicide, books and many other themes is taken from Schopenhauer's last work, Parerga and Paralipomena, which he published in 1851. These pieces depict humanity as locked in a struggle beyond good and evil, and each individual absolutely free within a Godless world, in which art, morality and self-awareness are our only salvation. This innovative - and pessimistic - view has proved powerfully influential upon philosophy and art, directly affecting the work of Nietzsche, Wittgenstein and Wagner among others.

Download or read book Ifferisms written by Dr. Mardy Grothe and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-08-25 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perfect for linguaphiles and lovers of quotes, Ifferisms is a lively compendium of wit, wisdom, and wordplay from Dr. Mardy Grothe, author of I Never Metaphor I Didn’t Like, Viva La Repartee, and Oxymoronica. A collection of aphorisms—pithy observations that communicate some kind of truth about the human experience—Ifferisms contains those that begin with “if.” From “If life hands you lemons, make lemonade” to “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the sayings in Ifferisms demonstrate how hypothetical thinking helps people contemplate their lives.

Download or read book Aphorisms written by Franz Kafka and published by Schocken. This book was released on 2015-11-17 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kafka’s aphorisms are fascinating glimpses into the lure and the enigma of the form itself. • From the acclaimed author of The Metamorphosis and The Trial—and one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century. The aphorism eludes definition: it can appear to be a random jotting or a more polished observation. Whether arbitrary fragment or crystalline shard, an aphorism captures the inception of a thought. Franz Kafka composed aphorisms during two periods in his life. A series of 109 was written between September 1917 and April 1918, in Zürau, West Bohemia, while Kafka was on a visit to his sister Ottla, hoping for a brief respite following the diagnosis of the tuberculosis virus that would eventually claim his life. They were originally published in 1931, seven years after his death by his friend and literary executor Max Brod, under the title Betrachtungen über Sünde, Hoffnung, Leid, und den wahren Wag (Reflections on Sin, Hope, Suffering, and the True Way). The second sequence of aphorisms, numbering 41, originally appeared as entries in Kafka’s diary from January 6 to February 29, 1920. They, too, were published posthumously, under the title “Er”: Aufzeichnungen aus dem Jahr 1920 (“He”: Reflections from the Year 1920).

Download or read book Sound of the Ax written by Vincent Wixon and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2014-02-10 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sound of the Ax brings together for the first time over four hundred aphorisms and twenty-six aphoristic poems by one of America's most essential poets of the twentieth century. Many readers are familiar with the trenchant nature of William Stafford's poems, with lines such as "Justice will take us millions of intricate moves" and "Your job is to find what the world is trying to be," but have never had the opportunity to read a sustained selection from the thousands of wise, witty, and penetrating statements he created in over forty years of daily writing in his journal. In keeping with Stafford's varied interests, the aphorisms in Sound of the Ax explore many topics—war and peace, involvement, aging, appearances, fear, egotism, writing, nature, animals, suffering, faith, living an ethical life, and so on—with his incisive view. The poems are either made up entirely or primarily aphorisms, and range from the well-known "Things I Learned Last Week" to some never before collected. Readers will find much to enjoy and to think about here, and will return over and over to Sound of the Ax for inspiration, pleasure, and wisdom from an author noted for his integrity and mindful living.

Download or read book The World in a Phrase written by James Geary and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2011-02-01 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Starting with the ancient Chinese and ending with contemporary Europeans and Americans, The World in a Phrase tells the story of the aphorism through spirited and amusing biographies of some of its greatest practitioners, including Emily Dickinson, and Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker; great French aphorists like Montaigne, La Rochefoucauld, and Chamfort; philosophers like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein; as well as prophets and sages like the Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Jesus. In our modern age, The World in a Phrase explores how aphorisms still retain the power to instigate and inspire, enlighten and enrage, entertain and edify. James Geary is the author of The Body Electric: An Anatomy of the New Bionic Senses. He lives in London with his wife and three children. "James Geary's celebration of the smallest-and sometimes wisest-of literary forms. Geary defines the characteristics of aphorisms and discusses their history and their role in his life, and shares the work of renowned aphorists from Buddha to Dr. Seuss."-Associated Press

Download or read book Wisdom Writers Around the World written by John W. Lorton and published by Inspiring Voices. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many of the great one-liner thoughts of the past have gone unexplained or even unread. Contained in this volume are some of those thoughts and aphorisms, accompanied by a brief explanation of what each one means. How appropriate that early authors of aphorisms were called wisdom writers. John Lorton ably explains the philosophic underpinnings of selected aphorisms and reveals the wisdom inherent in their succinct expression. Alice Kawazoe, California Academic Partnership Program, California State University, and the Stanford Research Network The author, John W. Lorton, states that aphorisms cannot be defined, yet here is a compilation of aphorisms clearly defined through example. This collection of aphorisms from great minds throughout the centuries not only clarifies each aphorism through example, but unlike James Gearys Guide to the Worlds Great Aphorists, elaborates on each aphorism by applying it to twentieth- and twenty-first-century life, making the book a valuable tool for high school and university teachers of English, philosophy, and social studies. Nancy Polette, Professor at Lindenwood University, St. Charles, Missouri

Download or read book The Bed of Procrustes written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-11-30 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of the modern classics The Black Swan, Fooled by Randomness, and Antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb expresses major ideas in ways you least expect in this collection of aphorisms and meditations—now expanded with fifty percent more material than the hardcover. The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from the Greek myth of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection, either by stretching them or by cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristic side effects—modifying humans to satisfy technology, blaming reality for not fitting economic models, inventing diseases to sell drugs, defining intelligence as what can be tested in a classroom, and convincing people that employment is not slavery. Playful and irreverent, these aphorisms will surprise you by exposing self-delusions you have been living with but never recognized. With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom, Taleb plows through human illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance, and erudition with the modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phonies.

Download or read book Tuesdays with Morrie written by Mitch Albom and published by Crown. This book was released on 2007-06-29 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A special 25th anniversary edition of the beloved book that has changed millions of lives with the story of an unforgettable friendship, the timeless wisdom of older generations, and healing lessons on loss and grief—featuring a new afterword by the author “A wonderful book, a story of the heart told by a writer with soul.”—Los Angeles Times “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was his college professor Morrie Schwartz. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn’t you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man’s life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final “class”: lessons in how to live. “The truth is, Mitch,” he said, “once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie’s lasting gift with the world.

Download or read book Short Flights written by James Lough and published by IPG. This book was released on 2015-12-01 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compilation of satirical and philosophical aphorisms from modern writers on the cutting edge of their craft A unique anthology that draws together the work and musings of our leading pioneers of short-form writing, this book features writers who take this time-honored literary form to new heights. Concise, wise, and sometimes terse or humorous, aphorisms are short phrases that are often instructional or moralistic. With a brief introductory piece from each author and a generous sampling of each individual's particular take on the aphorism, the reader is presented with a vast trove of wit, wisdom, insight, and inspiration, as well as new ways to look at language, words, and writing. From "Nothing dirtier than old soap" to "He doesn't need imagination—he's got money," the writers expound upon their favorite adages. The contributors range from prize-winning poets Charles Simic and Stephen Dobyns to bestselling authors like James Geary, David Shields, and experimental writers such as Olivia Dresher and Yahia Lababidi. Short Flights is sure to intrigue and delight all lovers of literature, language, and wordplay.

Download or read book 300 Arguments written by Sarah Manguso and published by Graywolf Press. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliant and exhilarating sequence of aphorisms from one of our greatest essayists There will come a time when people decide you’ve had enough of your grief, and they’ll try to take it away from you. Bad art is from no one to no one. Am I happy? Damned if I know, but give me a few minutes and I’ll tell you whether you are. Thank heaven I don’t have my friends’ problems. But sometimes I notice an expression on one of their faces that I recognize as secret gratitude. I read sad stories to inoculate myself against grief. I watch action movies to identify with the quick-witted heroes. Both the same fantasy: I’ll escape the worst of it. —from 300 Arguments A “Proustian minimalist on the order of Lydia Davis” (Kirkus Reviews), Sarah Manguso is one of the finest literary artists at work today. To read her work is to witness acrobatic acts of compression in the service of extraordinary psychological and spiritual insight. 300 Arguments, a foray into the frontier of contemporary nonfiction writing, is at first glance a group of unrelated aphorisms. But, as in the work of David Markson, the pieces reveal themselves as a masterful arrangement that steadily gathers power. Manguso’s arguments about desire, ambition, relationships, and failure are pithy, unsentimental, and defiant, and they add up to an unexpected and renegade wisdom literature.

Download or read book Everything written by Aaron Haspel and published by . This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aphorisms are often derided as trivial, yet most people rule their lives with five or six of them. This collection contains five or six hundred, some of which you wouldn't want to rule your life with. "The Rochefoucauld of the Twitter generation has arrived. Aaron Haspel's crisp, curt, cold-eyed aphorisms pack the maximum amount of truth into the minimum amount of space - and do it with elegance and wit." -Terry Teachout, drama critic, The Wall Street Journal "Delightfully witty, painfully true, and thoroughly enjoyable reading...a gem on every page." -Megan McArdle, Bloomberg columnist and author of The Up Side of Down "Aaron Haspel is good, very good." -Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of Antifragile and The Black Swan "My favorite aphorist of the 21st century." -Colin Marshall, Boing Boing "Extremely good...wry, wise rules." -James Geary, author of The World in a Phrase and editor of Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists

Download or read book Nietzsche and Metaphor written by Sarah Kofman and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This long-overdue translation brings to the English-speaking world the work that set the tone for the Post-structuralist reading of Nietzsche.

Download or read book Checkout 19 written by Claire-Louise Bennett and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, AND VOGUE “Bennett writes like no one else. She is a rare talent, and Checkout 19 is a masterful novel.” –Karl Ove Knausgaard From the author of the “dazzling. . . . and daring” Pond (O magazine), the adventures of a young woman discovering her own genius, through the people she meets–and dreams up–along the way. In a working-class town in a county west of London, a schoolgirl scribbles stories in the back pages of her exercise book, intoxicated by the first sparks of her imagination. As she grows, everything and everyone she encounters become fuel for a burning talent. The large Russian man in the ancient maroon car who careens around the grocery store where she works as a checkout clerk, and slips her a copy of Beyond Good and Evil. The growing heaps of other books in which she loses–and finds–herself. Even the derailing of a friendship, in a devastating violation. The thrill of learning to conjure characters and scenarios in her head is matched by the exhilaration of forging her own way in the world, the two kinds of ingenuity kindling to a brilliant conflagration. Exceeding the extraordinary promise of Bennett’s mold-shattering debut, Checkout 19 is a radical affirmation of the power of the imagination and the magic escape those who master it open to us all.