It Has Been Said

IT HAS BEEN SAID and collected by WILLIAM H. BRUNIE* "What is an epigram? a dwarfish whole, its body brevity, and wit its soul."—Coleridge "Proverb gives no reason because none is necessary; it is the summation of the wisdom of the past. Aphorism gives no reason because none is possible; it is the formulation of the wisdom of the future."—John Dominic Crossan "The aphorism's ineludible isolation renders any failure glaringly evident ."—John Dominic Crossan "An aphorism (this one of course excepted) can contain only as much wisdom as overstatement will permit."—Clifton Fadiman "Aphorism is exaggeration, extravagant language, the road of excess which leads to the palace of wisdom."—Norman O. Brown "An aphorism defies all coherence wider than itself . . . To one side of it loom empty puns, to the other fragmentary reflections ... It gives one insight while suggesting many."—Joseph Peter Stern "An aphorism need not be true but it should surpass the truth. It must go beyond it with one leap."—Karl Kraus "One who can write aphorisms should not waste his time writing essays ."—Karl Kraus "An aphorism is a link from a chain of thoughts; it demands that the reader re-establish this chain from his own resources."—Nietzsche»Address: 1530 East Chevy Chase Drive, Suite 208, Glendale, California 91206. Material appearing under this title is collected with the aim of making the serious a bit less serious, the ponderous a bit less heavy, and the reading hours a bit more fun. Toward this goal we invite a guest editor of this feature for each issue. Will readers volunteer to share their sense of humor by collecting or recollecting items that have brought smiles to their faces? We invite your participation. Originals are also welcomed. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 37, 2 ¦ Winter 1994 | 259 "? have done that,' says my memory. ? cannot have done that,' says my pride, and remains adamant. At last—memory yields."—Nietzsche "Sometimes we have to change the truth in order to remember it."— Santayana "The best memories are those we have forgotten."—Albert Camus "Memory is always deceptive."—Wilfred R. Bion "A poem is never finished; it's always an accident that puts a stop to it—i.e., gives it to the public."—Paul Valéry "To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say and to finish without knowing what you have written."—Rousseau "I had to grow old in order to learn what I wanted to know, and I should need to be young to say well what I know."—Joseph Joubert I collected by RICHARD D. KENNEY* "Knowledge makes one arrogant; Education makes one humble."—H. G. Creutzfeldt "Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument ."—Samuel Johnson ". . . with the doing, all is transformed, and yet, but the moment before, all is possibility, subject to revision, whim, reflection, timorousness. A moment later, ... a boundary is crossed from which there is no return."—Thomas Flanagan "The distance between possibility and actuality is infinity."—R. D. Kenney "... the parent . . . expresses for the child in imperatives the prayers he makes for himself."—E. L. Doctorow "If I could get to the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and say: 'What mean ye, fellow citizens, that ye turn every stone to scrape wealth together , and take so little care for your children, to whom ye must one day relinquish all.'"—Socrates»Carolinas Medical Center, PO Box 32861, Charlotte, North Carolina 28232-2861. 260 It Has Been Said "The creative child is regarded as rebellious, wild, naughty, silly, undependable , lacking in seriousness or even promise."—Winston S. Churchill "Teenagers are the current scapegoats for adult apathy, indifference, lack of responsibility, and lack of imagination."—Margaret Mead "Each child represents either a potential addition to the productive capacity and enlightened citizenship of the nation or, if allowed to suffer from neglect, a potential addition to the destructive forces of a community."—Theodore Roosevelt "Idleness is the mother of lechery."—William Osler "Complete idleness is the root of all energy."—Robert S. Bridges "This was decreed by superior powers In a moment of wisdom sidereal That those...