Oxford Book of Aphorisms

My wife is a text book writer and has found this gift text to be quite valuable. Recommended

Those are the bitter pills of civilization. Like other bitter pills, they have great healing power. As a matter of fact, if the World took more notice of those pearls of wisdom, produced by outstanding minds, from Heraclitus to the Huxleys, policies might be less absurd and mass actions less disastrous than they actually are.

The book is dark verging on sardonic, reflecting the dark, sardonic nature of the best epigrams of our age. I was inspired to respond in the margins to a number of them, and I can't think of a better response to epigrams in general, than for them to get under your prickly skin to the extent that you might write your own ironic counterstatements. Bloodshed begets bloodshed, and so we might say (ironically) that this sort of bitterness begets bitterness. But it may very well be the most brilliant bitterness you've known.

Some of my favorite quotes with my responses--representative in the extreme:

"Where they burn books they will also in the end burn human bodies"--Heine, <>, 1823

"Where they burn human beings, they will also, in the end, burn the wrong book"--Eucaleh Terrapin

"A secret may sometimes be best kept by keeping the secret of its being a secret"--Sir Henry Taylor, <>, 1823

"Thus the wisest proverb is common sense"--Eucaleh Terrapin

"Freedom produces jokes, and jokes produce freedom"--Jean Paul Richter, Introduction to Aesthetics, 1823

"But to be witty is to be serious about other comedians"--Eucaleh Terrapin

John Gross has compliled an excellent collection of the best aphorisms into a nicely accessible framework. The book is arranged by chapters reflecting everything from "Nature" to "The Afterlife." This arrangement works well as a path to pursue the great thoughts that philosophers, psychologists, and aphorists have written about the areas that most commonly provoke interest. The book has an outstanding index and an insightful introduction from Gross in which he expresses his regret about not having beem able to obtain permission to include the observations of Wittgenstein. As Vauvenargues wrote in 1746, "Men's maxims reveal their characters," and one of the great values in this collection is that it juxtaposes what others have said by subject area, juxtaposing what the famous thinkers here included remarked on the same subjects. The cover of this volume displays an explosive rocket, appropriately enough. The anti-religious elements are especially entertaining, as it is always fun to see the response to the groveling aspects of Christian orthodoxy. Highly recommended.

Like most collections of aphorisms this one is rich in helpful thoughts. These thoughts inspire and give birth to new thoughts. 1) Aphorisms of others ideally inspire aphorisms of our own.
2) Aphorisms help make our minds more interesting.
3) It is senseless to read too many aphorisms at once
4) A little here a little there, aphoristic pleasure everywhere.
5) A good aphorism is one you want to tell someone else.