Selected Aphorisms #46

The forty-sixth installment in our electric new series.

One reads an aphorism not for information, but to be formed by it. It follows, then, that one reads a collection of aphorisms – apophthegmata in the Greek – to practice a new way of seeing. The quality of the aphorisms matter – obviously, it goes without saying – but so does the quality of the reader. Not for nothing did Lichtenberg say: “A book is a mirror: if an ass peers in, you can’t expect an apostle to peer out.”