Ebook: The World in a Phrase

Intro; Title Page; Contents; 1. Guessing Is More Fun Than Knowing: The Confessions of an Aphorism Addict; The Five Laws of Aphorisms; 1. It Must Be Brief; 2. It Must Be Definitive; 3. It Must Be Personal; 4. It Must Have a Twist; 5. It Must Be Philosophical; 2. We Are What We Think: Ancient Sages, Preachers, and Prophets; Lao-tzu; Buddha; Confucius; Jesus; Muhammad; The Zen Masters; 3. A Man Is Wealthy in Proportion to the Things He Can Do Without: Greek and Roman Stoics; Diogenes; Epicurus; Seneca; Epictetus; Marcus Aurelius;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.