The World in a Phrase A History of Aphorisms

by Geary, James

• ISBN13: 9781582344300
• ISBN10: 1582344302
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-11-02
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

For lovers of words and seekers of wisdom, a lively history of aphorisms--the shortest and oldest written art form--and the intriguing people who have penned them, from the Buddha to Emily Dickinson. Starting with the ancient Chinese and ending with contemporary Europeans and Americans,The World in a Phrasetells the story of the aphorism through spirited and amusing biographies of some of its greatest practitioners: Americans like Ambrose Bierce, 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. Though it's an ancient art form, the aphorism is as spritely and as apposite as ever. Challenging and subversive, aphorisms deliver the short, sharp shocks of old forgotten truths. They are literature's hand luggage: they're light and compact, you can take them anywhere, and they contain everything you need to get through a rough day at the office or a dark night of the soul. But more than just a literary history,The World in a Phraseis a personal memoir of how aphorisms changed Geary's life--and how, if not for an aphorism by W.H. Auden, he might never have met his wife. In our modern age of drive-through culture, pre-digested soundbites, and manufactured sentiment,The World in a Phraseexplores how aphorisms still retain the power to instigate and inspire, enlighten and enrage, entertain and edify.

Author Biography

James Geary is deputy editor of Time magazine Europe and the author of the popular science book The Body Electric: An Anatomy of the New Bionic Senses. He lives in London with his wife and three children.

Table of Contents

Guessing Is More Fun Than Knowing: The Confessions of an Aphorism Addict	1	(20)
We Are What We Think: Ancient Sages, Preachers, and Prophets	21	(28)
Lao-tzu	27	(4)
Buddha	31	(4)
Confucius	35	(3)
Jesus	38	(4)
Muhammad	42	(3)
The Zen Masters	45	(4)
A Man Is Wealthy in Proportion to the Things He Can Do Without: Greek and Roman Stoics	49	(18)
Diogenes	52	(3)
Epicurus	55	(3)
Seneca	58	(4)
Epictetus	62	(3)
Marcus Aurelius	65	(2)
Upon the Highest Throne in the World, We Are Seated, Still, upon Our Arses: French and Spanish Moralists	67	(35)
Michel de Montaigne	69	(6)
Baltasar Gracian	75	(6)
Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld	81	(6)
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues	87	(5)
Sebastien-Roch Nicolas Chamfort	92	(5)
Joseph Joubert	97	(5)
Good and Evil Are the Prejudices of God: Heretics, Dissenters, and Skeptics	102	(24)
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg	106	(3)
Arthur Schopenhauer	109	(5)
Friedrich Nietzsche	114	(5)
Ludwig Wittgenstein	119	(4)
E. M. Cioran	123	(3)
The Lack of Money Is the Root of All Evil: The Rise of the American One-Liner	126	(23)
Ralph Waldo Emerson	130	(3)
Henry David Thoreau	133	(6)
Mark Twain	139	(5)
Ambrose Bierce	144	(5)
Know Then Thyself, Presume Not God to Scan; The Proper Study of Mankind Is Man: In Praise of Light Verse	149	(25)
Alexander Pope	152	(5)
William Blake	157	(3)
Emily Dickinson	160	(4)
Samuel Hoffenstein	164	(2)
Dorothy Parker	166	(3)
Dr. Seuss	169	(5)
In the Beginning Was the Word---At the End Just the Cliche: The Aphorism Today	174	(25)
Karl Kraus	176	(4)
Antonio Porchia	180	(3)
Malcolm de Chazal	183	(5)
Stanislaw Jerzy Lec	188	(3)
Barbara Kruger	191	(1)
Jenny Holzer	192	(7)
Afterisms	199	(2)
Notes	201	(8)
Bibliography	209