The Proverbial Aphorism
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blue-sky-aphorisms.bsky.social
The Proverbial Aphorism
@blue-sky-aphorisms.bsky.social
420 followers 730 following 350 posts

A commonplace of found aphorisms & proverbs.

"Aphorisms are like airplanes,
they stay up only while they are in motion."
—Nabokov

"All songs are proverbial—
those of birds, rivers, winds, rocks . . ."
—DW
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blue-sky-aphorisms.bsky.social
Had a little play with mine - one of them is no longer a #7syllablesentence, but a poem's gotta poem . . .
A Note On Birth open mouth like bird like—sing A Note On Life breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe— A Note On Death inhale, exhale, inhale, ex—
November 28, 2024 at 6:00 AM
blue-sky-aphorisms.bsky.social
November 27, 2024 at 6:52 PM
blue-sky-aphorisms.bsky.social

—Note—

Some of these were already aphorisms. Some are aphoristic sounding excerpts. Others have been edited to fit the aphoristic form. Some were already standalone quotes, while many are fragments from longer poems & prose.

Ed. Dick Whyte
@forgottenpoets.bsky.social
@dailyhaikai.bsky.social

🖤
'Aphorism' comes from the Greek ἀπο (from) and ὁρῐ́ζω (as in horizon). Poetically it can be taken to mean “from the horizon”—performing a linguistic paradox, a prophetic leap into faith, traversing the untraversable divide between our being-always-where-we-are and becoming-yonder. Aphorisms are a kind of attempt at thinking beyond the horizon of the thinkable, or as Michel Tournier will put it: “A cloud forms in the sky like an image in my brain, the wind blows like I breathe, a rainbow spans the horizon for as long as my heart needs to reconcile itself to life.” Frater Taciturnus — Aphorisms & Aphasia (c. 389 AD) 'Proverb' comes from the Latin pro (for) and verbum (word) and refers to the forewords—those words which came before words—and the forwards going of words: a supra and super-imposition of both past and future wisdoms. The proverb is actively for words, and in particular, for verbs:—movements, momentums, motions. A proverb is properly understood in terms of its speeds, intensities, and flows. Proverbs are inherently compressed and condensed, small in physical size, and yet contain within them psychical immensities. A monumental miniature, an infinite instant, a spacious speck, a formidable fragment. A giant gnat. The most enduring and endearing proverbs are—of course—poetic riddles, such as the prophetesses of Delphi used to speak. Not because they could not speak plainly, but because prophecy is akin to poetry in its desire to know the unknowable. Frater Taciturnus — Proverbial Prophecy (c. 391 AD)
November 24, 2024 at 9:51 PM