The History of the Aphorism?

Question

I have a paper on Aphorisms and their history i have been looking all over for the history of aphorisms but i cant find anything. And i don't need a definition i already know the definition of it which is that aphorism is a short saying that reveals true human nature.
A great Aphorist is Fredrich Nietche who said "There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day." ANY HELP!?

Answer 1

The reference to the book and Wikipedia aren't much of an answer, but here's hoping they will help somewhat. Good luck to you; this looks like a fascinating paper, and possibly a book that needs to be written as well.

Cheers, K

Aphorism
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Aphorism (from the Greek αφοριζειν, to define), literally a distinction or a definition, is a term used to describe a principle expressed tersely in a few telling words or any general truth conveyed in a short and pithy sentence, in such a way that when once heard it is unlikely to pass from memory.[1]
Contents
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* 1 Examples
* 2 Aphorism and literature
* 3 Poetics of the aphorism
* 4 Aphorism and society
* 5 Aphorists
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 External links

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Examples

Specifically, an aphorism is a saying that makes a point or expresses the opinion of the speaker by illustrating or describing the horizon of that perspective. Instead of standing outside a viewpoint and describing the viewpoint, an aphorism adopts a viewpoint and identifies the things which are only visible from that perspective. Usually an aphorism is a very concise statement of a phenomenology. Some examples include:

* I think therefore I am. — René Descartes
* Marry in haste: repent at leisure. — Scottish proverb
* Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. — Chinese proverb, often misattributed to Eleanor Roosevelt
* Science is organized knowledge. — Herbert Spencer
* Lost time is never found again. — Benjamin Franklin
* Greed is a permanent slavery. — Ali
* Death with dignity is better than life with humiliation. — Husayn ibn Ali
* That which does not kill us makes us stronger. — Friedrich Nietzsche
* It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. Its what you know for sure that just ain't so. — Mark Twain

It can embody a bit of humor or be tied to some overworked statement, such as:

* One man's meat is another man's poison.

The name was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, a long series of propositions concerning the symptoms and diagnosis of disease and the art of healing and medicine. The term came to be applied later to other sententious statements of physical science, and later still to statements of all kinds of principles.

Care should be taken not to confound aphorisms with axioms. Aphorisms come into being as the result of experience. This is also often the case with axioms (see axiomatization; Euclidean geometry), but due to their apparent certainty, axioms are then regarded as assertions not requiring proof, and used as the starting point for further deductive reasoning. Aphorisms have been especially used in dealing with subjects such as art, agriculture, medicine, jurisprudence, and politics, to which little methodical or scientific treatment was applied at the time.

The Aphorisms of Hippocrates form by far the most celebrated as well as the earliest collection of the kind. They include:

* "Old men support abstinence well: people of a ripe age less well: Young folk badly, and children less well than all the rest, particularly those of them who are very lively."
* "Those who are very fat by nature are more exposed to die suddenly than those who are thin."
* "When two illnesses arrive at the same time, the stronger silences the weaker."

The first aphorism, perhaps the best known of all, which serves as a kind of introduction to the book, runs:

"Life is short, art is long, opportunity fugitive, experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult: it is necessary not only to do oneself what is right, but also to be seconded by the patient, by those who attend him, by external circumstances."

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Aphorism and literature

Aphoristic collections, sometimes known as wisdom literature, have a prominent place in the canons of several ancient societies: E.g. the Biblical Book of Proverbs, Islamic Hadith, Hesiod's Works and Days, or Epictetus' Handbook. Aphoristic collections also make up an important part of the work of some modern authors, such as Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Kraus, La Rouchefoucauld, Thomas Szasz and Leonard Wisdon.
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Poetics of the aphorism

Some sociolinguists consider the aphorism a compressed poetic genre in itself. Aphorisms typically make extensive use of such devices as alliteration (penny wise, pound foolish), anaphora (a penny saved is a penny earned) and rhyme (a stitch in time saves nine).

Consider, for example, the aphorism "Children should be seen and not heard", which has persisted in common usage despite many compelling objections to its wisdom. Whatever the value of its message, the phrase could, in fact, be considered a masterpiece of oral-poetc art.

"Children should be seen and not heard" contains emphatic repetition of the consonants n and d (Children should be seen and not heard). Metrically, it consists of four syllables without strong rhythmical marking (Children should be) followed by a pronounced choriamb (seen and not heard). It is thus remarkably similar to octosyllabic verse-forms found in many ancient literatures, including Sappho's lyrics and the hymns of the Rig-Veda.
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Aphorism and society

In a number of cultures, such as Samuel Johnson's England and tribal societies throughout the world, the ability to spontaneously produce aphoristic sayings at exactly the right moment is a key determinant of social status.

Many societies have traditional sages or culture heroes to whom aphorisms are commonly attributed, such as the Seven Sages of Greece, Confucius or King Solomon.
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Aphorists

An aphorist is someone who produces or collects aphorisms. Famous aphorists include:

* Ambrose Bierce
* William Blake
* Nicolas Chamfort
* G. K. Chesterton
* Winston Churchill
* Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
* Benjamin Franklin
* Karl Kraus
* Robert A. Heinlein
* Hermann Hesse
* Kahlil Gibran



* Jean de La Bruyere
* François de La Rochefoucauld
* Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
* Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
* Clare Boothe Luce
* Andrzej Majewski
* H. L. Mencken
* Michel de Montaigne
* John Heywood
* The Dalai Lama



* Friedrich Nietzsche
* Leo Tolstoy
* Mark Twain
* Ludwig Wittgenstein
* Marquis de Vauvenargues
* Voltaire
* E.M. Cioran
* Paul Valery

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See also

* Pseudo-Phocylides
* Gospel of Thomas
* Book of Proverbs
* Ecclesiasticus
* Ecclesiastes
* Proverb
* Adage
* Maxim
* Cliché
* Stock phrase

Answer 2

I have no problem accepting that there was an itinerant rabbi named Yeshua who was preaching a gospel of redemption in present-day Israel/Palestine. However, even if we find out someone named Jesus lived who preached that gospel and even got crucified for it, that doesn't mean he had supernatural origins or that his crucifixion completed a supernatural goal, that's the difference. There's still no evidence to justify a belief that he walked on water, or fed 5000 people with a single loaf of bread, etc. So, yes it's very much like Harry Potter. If we found out that in the year 900AD there was a kid named Harry Potter who went to a school called Hogwarts, but don't find any evidence for his magical skills, there's reason to accept a historical Harry Potter, but no reason to believe he was actually a wizard.