aphorism

aphorist

Arcadia

banter

comedy

complaining

countryside

death

divorce

e-book

fearless

gaze

happiness

journalist

life

love

marriage

maturity

messenger

midterm election

obvious

past

privilege

prose

question mark

reading

reality

reprieve

seeing

self-discovery

self-reproach

sentimentality

sexual propriety

skeptic

sleep

suburbia

technology

temperament

testosterone

thunder

tragedy

transitoriness

truth

truth-telling

typo

weeping

nationality

British

is a remark that has won itself some elbow room.

An aphorism is a remark that has won itself some elbow room.

, in its brevity, shrugs off the burden of proof.

Concision is a virtue only in part. The aphorism, in its brevity, also shrugs off the burden of proof.

is an assertion behind which lurks always the watermark of a question.

Behind every aphoristic assertion there should be the watermark of a question.

is a device whereby reading is reduced to a single artefact through which the text passes like a spirit through a medium. Thus the book loses its corporeal existence and literature enters the age of ghosts.

With the e-book, reading is reduced to a single artefact through which the text passes like a spirit through a medium. Thus the book loses its corporeal existence and literature enters the age of ghosts.

is an epithet which bigots apply to themselves. An open mind grapples constantly with dread.

‘Fearless’ is an epithet which bigots apply to themselves. An open mind grapples constantly with dread.

is a by-product. If one makes it one's goal, one will always shoot wide.

Happiness is a by-product. Make it your goal and you will always shoot wide.

He who desires, but acts not, has a shot at a halfway decent marriage.

is a genre that takes the long way round in pursuit of a shortcut to the reader.

Good prose takes the long way round in pursuit of a shortcut to the reader.

is an exclamation mark that stoops to inspect itself.

A question mark is an exclamation mark that stoops to inspect itself.

 was killed by nothing more effectively than by its elevation to a virtue.

Nothing kills reading more effectively than its elevation to a virtue.

is a process whereby some things, in order to be seen, must be seen through.

Some things must be seen through to be seen.

is not a voyage without risk. What if you reach your destination and can’t stand the place?

The voyage of self-discovery is not without risk. What if you reach your destination and can’t stand the place?

is itself a kind of vanity: why should you be immune to human failure?

There is vanity in self-reproach: why should you be immune to human failure?

is able to make a competition out of anything. Somewhere, probably, there’s a birdwatching club whose first rule is that it mustn’t be spoken of.

Testosterone can make a competition out of anything. Somewhere, probably, there’s a birdwatching club whose first rule is that it mustn’t be spoken of.

 may set you free but it’s cold outside.

The truth may set you free but it’s cold outside.

is complex, lies are easy. Fiction solves this problem by wearing its untruth on its sleeve –– thereby asserting kinship with its supposed opposite.

Truth is complex, lies are easy. Fiction solves this problem by wearing its untruth on its sleeve –– thereby asserting kinship with its supposed opposite.

is done in vain where power is concerned. There is no truth that can be spoken to power that power cannot cheerfully ignore.

Adrian recounts that Alexander the Great endured the rebuke of an Indian philosopher. “You roam presumptuously over the world, giving no rest to yourself or others. Yet soon you will die, and possess no more of the earth than suffices for your burial.” Alexander praised his critic, accepted the reproof of a conquered people – then resumed his conquests. There is no truth that can be spoken to power that power cannot cheerfully ignore.

Gregory Norminton

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Gregory Norminton