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 — Ambrose Bierce
It becomes an emperor to die standing (i.e., "in harness").
[Lat., Decet imperatorem statem mori.] — Vespasian
A good aphorism is too hard for the tooth of time, and is not worn away by all the centuries, although it serves as food for every epoch. — Friedrich Nietzsche
Praise invariably implies a reference to a higher standard. — Aristotle
The excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some useful truth in a few words. — Samuel Johnson
Writing an upbeat aphorism is a temptation, but decorum forbids. — Mason Cooley
Philistine must have originally meant, in the mind of those who invented the nickname, a strong, dogged, unenlightened opponent of the chosen people, of the children of the light. — Matthew Arnold
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous. — Voltaire
An aphorism ought to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world like a little work of art and complete in itself like a hedgehog. — Friedrich Von Schlegel
An aphorism ought to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world like a little work of art and complete in itself like a hedgehog. — Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
Short Epithet Quotes
Blasphemy is an epithet bestowed by superstition upon common sense. — Robert Green Ingersoll
Ah fair Zenocrate, divine Zenocrate, Fair is too foul an epithet for thee. — Christopher Marlowe
The epithets of imbeciles have never bothered me. — Rosa Bonheur
Insolence is not logic; epithets are the arguments of malice. — Robert Green Ingersoll
A heap of epithets is poor praise: the praise lies in the facts, and in the way of telling them. — Jean De La Bruyere
As a result of the feminist revolution, feminine becomes an abusive epithet. — Percy Wynham Lewis
As a result of the feminist revolution, 'feminine' becomes an abusive epithet. — Wyndham Lewis
What praise is implied in the simple epithet useful! What reproach in the contrary. — David Hume
I got nothing against no Viet Cong. No Vietnamese ever called me a >. — Muhammad Ali
Epithets are not arguments. Abuse does not persuade. — Robert Green Ingersoll
Even when they call us mad, when they call us subversives and communists and all the epithets they put on us, we know we only preach the subversive witness of the Beatitudes, which have turned everything upside down. — Oscar Romero
The modern revisionists and reactionaries call us Stalinists, thinking that they insult us and, in fact, that is what they have in mind. But, on the contrary, they glorify us with this epithet; it is an honor for us to be Stalinists for while we maintain such a stand the enemy cannot and will never force us to our knees. — Enver Hoxha
For God's sake (I never was more serious) don't make me ridiculous any more by terming me gentle-hearted in print. — Charles Lamb
You have to understand that the I.D.W. emerged as a response to a world where perfectly reasonable intellectuals were being regularly mislabeled by activists, institutions, and mainstream journalists with every career-ending epithet from 'Islamophobe' to 'Nazi'. — Eric Weinstein
The use of 'conspiracy theory' as a derogatory - as an epithet almost - is something the propagandists have perfected over the decades, and it's a useful tool for eliminating articulate dissent and other points of view, and information that might be inconvenient for a policy agenda. — Chris Sanders
If a man knows precisely what he can do to you or what epithet he can hurl against you in order to make you lose your temper, your equilibrium, then he can always keep you under subjection. — Howard Thurman
For it is a plain fact that, most certainly in the West, the writings, works of art, musical compositions which are of central reference, comport that which is "grave and constant" (Joyce's epithets) in the mystery of our condition. — George Steiner
The truth is, that common-sense, or thought as it first emerges above the level of the narrowly practical, is deeply imbued with that bad logical quality to which the epithet metaphysical is commonly applied; and nothing can clear it up but a severe course of logic. — Charles Sanders Peirce
Ardent, intelligent, sweet, sensitive, cultivated, erudite. These are the adjectives of praise in an androgynous world. Those who consider them epithets of shame or folly ought not to be trusted with leadership, for they will be men hot for power and revenge, certain of right and wrong. — Carolyn Heilbrun
It's easy to attack an artist as misogynist, but that's really such a facile epithet. And if an artist is constantly worrying about how others will judge a work, it can end up being a block to investigating certain areas of human nature or certain truths about sexuality. — Lisa Yuskavage
Children, I grant, should be innocent; but when the epithet is applied to men, or women, it is but a civil term for weakness. — Mary Wollstonecraft
In art, all who have done something other than their predecessors have merited the epithet of revolutionary; and it is they alone who are masters. — Paul Gauguin
Fascist is not just an epithet. Fascist is a proper noun that means a specific thing. It`s a real thing. It`s not always referring to ancient history. — Rachel Maddow
I think we all have the power to name ourselves. I try to call people what it is they wish to be called. But we can take the sting out of epithets and bad words by using them. — Gloria Steinem
I will call no being good who is not what I mean when I apply that epithet to my fellow creatures; and if such a creature can sentence me to hell for not so calling him, to hell I will go . — John Stuart Mill
My notion about any artist is that we honor him best by reading him, by playing his music, by seeing his plays or by looking at his pictures. We don't need to fall all over ourselves with adjectives and epithets. Let's play him more. — Jacques Barzun
The epithets of parent and child have been long applied to Great Britain and her colonies, [but] we rarely see anything from your side of the water except the authoritative style of a master to a school-boy. — George Mason
Slothful, feeble, pretentious, pedantic, elitist - these are some of the epithets that eventually become associated with the absent minded scholar, the poor sighted reader, the book worm, the nerd. — Alberto Manguel
Here in the United States, when the term "fascist" gets used, it`s either talking about other countries, ancient history or it`s used as a sort of insult, right, a sort of generic right wing epithet that people use to criticize politicians who are at most on the edge of mainstream American political thought. — Rachel Maddow
An epithet or metaphor drawn from nature ennobles art; an epithet or metaphor drawn from art degrades nature. — Samuel Johnson
Men's thoughts and opinions are in a great degree vassals of him who invents a new phrase or re-applies an old epithet. The thought or feeling a thousand times repeated becomes his at last who utters it best. — James Russell Lowell
Epithets, like pepper, Give zest to what you write; And if you strew them sparely, They whet the appetite: But if you lay them on too thick, You spoil the matter quite! — Lewis Carroll
Sycamore trees were held to be sacred in ancient Egypt and are the first trees represented in ancient art. The sycamore, also, was sacred. Peasants gather around them in rituals. In the Land of the Dead there was a sycamore in whose branches the goddess Hathor lived; she leaned out of it giving sustenance and water to deceased souls. In Memphis, Hathor's epithet was Lady of the Sycamore. — Larry Gates
An officer should never speak ironically or sarcastically to an enlisted man, since the latter does not have a fair chance to answer back. The use of profanity and epithets comes under the same headings. The best argument for a man keeping his temper is that nobody else wants it; and when he voluntary throws it away, he loses a main prop to his own position. — Samuel Lyman Atwood Marshall
Children, I grant, should be innocent; but when the epithet is applied to men, or women, it is but a civil term for weakness. — Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
For God's sake (I never was more serious) don't make me ridiculous any more by terming me gentle-hearted in print... substitute drunken dog, ragged head, seld-shaven, odd-eyed, stuttering, or any other epithet which truly and properly belongs to the gentleman in question. — Charles Lamb
Other presidents behind the scenes mutter epithets about the media. Donald Trump calls us the lowest form of human life to our face. Other presidents tried their best to go around the media that they don't think are expressing their views. President Trump just is - is just very, very vocal about that and much more - spends much more time being vocal about that. — Ruth Marcus
Trudeau has to defend Canadian interests and values. But he has to do it in a way that doesn't say that Trump is stupid or outrageous or completely xenophobic - staying away from the epithets, and restricting his comments to areas where there's either false information, fake news, alternative facts, etcetera, about Canada. — Michael Kergin
In my opinion, using different kinds of epithets and adjectives in connection with the word democracy is a sign of mere hypocrisy, to put it mildly. Either there's democracy, or there isn't. — Garry Kasparov
The infernal flag-waving after 9/11 nearly drove liberals out of their gourds. For the left, 'flag-waving' is an epithet. — Ann Coulter
...a vocal minority of scientists so mistrusts the models and the complex fragmentary data, that some claim that global warming is a hoax. They have made public statements accusing other scientists of deliberate fraud in aid of their research funding. Both sides are now hurling personal epithets at each other, a very bad development in Earth sciences. — Joanne Simpson
Boethius might have been styled happy, if that precarious epithet could be safely applied before the last term of the life of man. — Edward Gibbon
I really think next to the consciousness of doing a good action, that of doing a civil one is the most pleasing; and the epithet which I should covet the most next to that of Aristides, would be that of well-bred. — Lord Chesterfield
I think I have done well, if I have acquired a new word from a good author; and my business with him is to find my own, though itwere only to melt him down into an epithet or an image for daily use. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
The love of liberty was the ruling passion of these Germans; the enjoyment of it, their best treasure; the word that expressed that enjoyment the most pleasing to their ear. They deserved, they assumed, they maintained the honourable epithet of Franks or Freemen; which concealed, though it did not extinguish, the peculiar names of the several states of the confederacy. — Edward Gibbon
In Conclusion
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