In one of his Letters Provinciales, the French philosopher and Theologian Blaise Pascal apologises that “I have made this letter longer than usual because I have not had the time to make it shorter”. This is an aphoristic statement that could form one part of the definition of an aphorism: a pithy observation that contains a general truth. There are thousands of well-known aphorisms coming in all manner of media, like the old proverb “a rolling stone gathers no moss”, or the quite recent lyrics from the Rolling Stones: “you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you’ll find you get what you need”. My guest this episode is an expert in aphorisms, James Geary, adjunct lecturer in writing for public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He is the author of the New York Times Bestseller The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism, original published way back in 2005 but recently reprinted in its 2nd edition on account of all the new aphoristic content coming out of social media. What’s the difference between a twitter hot take or a tiktok sketch and an aphorism, well you’ll just have to stay with us to find out.

James Website

https://jamesgeary.com/

The book!

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-world-in-a-phrase-a-brief-history-of-the-aphorism-second-edition-james-geary/7852688