Publisher's Synopsis
What sets wise words apart from the clich?s and soundbites we encounter every day? When a saying has the power to reach out and change your life, it is no longer a platitude or a proverb but an aphorism.
Self-confessed aphorism addict James Geary takes a whimsical, humorous tour through the history of this remarkable subject and its extraordinary practitioners. With a scope that reaches from the ancient Eastern prophets to American one-liners, from the Greek and Roman Stoics to the great German philosophers, the book's focus is life, the universe and everything.
