Aphorisms by Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Doug Yonson alerts me to the aphoristic abilities of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who was once allegedly described by President Richard Nixon as an “asshole”; to which Trudeau is said to have replied: “I’ve been called worse things by better people.” This same wit is on display in Trudeau’s aphorisms, which Doug [...]
More Aphorisms by Gregory Gash and Aron Vigushin
I first blogged about the aphorisms of Gregory Gash and Aron Vigushin back in March; now they’re back, translated once again from the Russian by Aron Vigushin, with some biographical information and more aphorisms… Vigushin is a civil engineer-designer with some 50 years of experience. He discovered aphorisms early in life “as a convenient short [...]
Aphorisms by and via Aleksander Cotric
Serbian aphorist Aleksander Cotric (see p. 30 of Geary’s Guide) sent me excerpts from Serbia’s Secret Weapon, a collection of Serbian anti-war aphorisms compiled by Slobodan Simić. “These aphorisms are about the Balkan wars,” says Cotric, also a member of the Belgrade Aphoristic Circle portrayed in the film Goodbye, How Are you?, “wars that were [...]
More Aphorisms by Aleksandar Krzavac
I first blogged about Aleksandar Krzavac’s aphorisms back in November of 2007; a fresh selection is offered below. Krzavac is a member of the Belgrade Aphoristic Circle and some of his sayings are featured in the film Goodbye, How Are You?, which I blogged about yesterday. In these aphorisms, Krzavac turns his clinical, jaundiced eye [...]
Goodbye, How Are You?
Imagine my chagrin when, three-quarters of the way through Goodbye, How Are You? (a.k.a. Aphocalypse Now), Boris Mitic’s superb “satirical documentary fairy tale” featuring the aphorisms of the Belgrade Aphoristic Circle, the following message appeared on my screen: “SKIPPING DAMAGED AREA”. At first, I thought this must be a reference to some dark episodes from [...]
Sephardic Proverbs
Michael Castro calls Sephardic proverbs “the unwritten laws of how to be and how to see”, and a better definition of aphoristic expressions I have not seen. Castro has been collecting these proverbs for years, from books, from friends, from relatives. They are featured in Sephardic Proverbs in Big Bridge (Vol 3, No 3), where [...]
By the Skin of Our Aphorisms…
Aphorisms are everywhere, not just in books but carved into buildings and monuments, scrawled on bathroom walls, slapped onto car bumpers and emblazoned across t-shirts and baseball caps—and they are branded onto the skin. In The Word Made Flesh, a piece on literary tattoos that’s part of the Forbes.com special report on Aphorisms, Proverbs, Thoughts [...]
Aphorisms by and via Bertie Charles Forbes
Bertie Charles Forbes, the man who founded the magazine that bears his name, was also a life-long collector of aphorisms. He gave “Thoughts on the Business of Life”—a smattering of thoughtful quotations—a full page in every issue of the magazine, he said, “to inspire a philosophic mode of life, broad sympathies, charity towards all.” In [...]