Norman Douglas Quotes

APHORISM, n. Predigested wisdom.

Any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell belongs there.

Accusations fit on a bumper sticker. The truth is longer.

APHORISM, n. Predigested wisdom. The flabby wine-skin of his brain Yields to some pathologic strain, And voids from its unstored abysm The driblet of an aphorism. "The Mad Philosopher," 1697

An aphorism is never exactly true; it is either a half-truth or one-and-a-half truths.

In an aphorism, aptness counts for more than truth.

An epigram is a flashlight of a truth; a witticism, truth laughing at itself.

A proverb is much matter distilled into few words.

A proverb is good sense brought to a point.

Somewhere in the world there is an epigram for every dilemma.

I hate bumper stickers, you can't sum anything up. All you do is paint yourself in some caricaturist corner.

We endeavor to stuff the universe into the gullet of an aphorism.

An aphorism is true where it has fixed the impression of a genuine experience.

I'm obsessed with proverbs because, to me, flexing is being able to say the most with the least amount of words.

EPIGRAM, n. A short, sharp saying in prose or verse, frequently characterize by acidity or acerbity and sometimes by wisdom.

I summed up all systems in a phrase, and all existence in an epigram.

The nature of oratory is such that there has always been a tendency among politicians and clergymen to oversimplify complex matters. From a pulpit or a platform even the most conscientious of speakers finds it very difficult to tell the whole truth.

And simple truth miscalled simplicity

Lies are usually attempts to make everything simpler - for the liar - than it really is, or ought to be.

An aphorism is true where it has fixed the impression of a genuine experience.

There is no proverb that is not true.

An aphorism is a generalization, therefore not modern.

Do not be alarmed by simplification, complexity is often a device for claiming sophistication, or for evading simple truths.

A man's ignorance sometimes is not only useful, but beautiful-while his knowledge, so called, is oftentimes worse than useless, besides being ugly.

Truth is too simple for us: we do not like those who unmask our illusions.