How to speak succinctly and wisely: an example of aphorisms

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons", the nihilist Yevgeny Bazarov, turning to his friend Arkady Kirsanov, exclaims: "I ask you one thing: do not speak beautifully!" This is said with a great deal of irony to the enthusiastic and vague thoughts of a young comrade. After all, Bazarov himself speaks precisely and concisely, succinctly and concisely. No wonder so many of his expressions were remembered by readers and became aphorisms. Their second name is winged.

Properties of the phenomenon

Each of us can give an example of aphorisms on the go, without even suspecting that they are. The famous “Knowledge is power”, “Better to be alone than with just anyone”, “Do not create an idol for yourself” and many other similar phrases fly from our tongue sometimes before we have time to remember who their author is. This is one of the main features of such expressions. It seems that we have always known them, that we are their co-authors. And all because almost any example of aphorisms is such a successful formulation of a particular thought that it sinks into consciousness as an example of a speech norm. This is the phenomenonmost popular expressions: they are always heard, they are reproduced almost unchanged and understood from a half-word.

What is this

The first examples of aphorisms were given by the ancient Greeks. They also outlined the scope of the phenomenon itself, its distinctive features. According to the language of the Hellenes, "an aphorism is a definition," that is, a definite complete statement containing a valuable, original thought. It is formulated in an energetic, memorable form, short, bright, figurative, memorable. The expression can be oral or written - the main thing is that other people pick it up and begin to quote it. The best example of aphorisms shows how important it is to be able to correlate the meaning of the statement and the contextual field as much as possible, as well as the situation in which it is relevant. Such expressions, as a rule, are the quintessence of the author's observations on life, conclusions from reflections on issues of interest to him. “A thought honed like a dagger,” one of the Eastern sages of the Middle Ages called aphorisms.

Great minds

Not every person has such an amazing ability to think and speak so extraordinary that his words went down in history. And not just by themselves, but as an example of the harmony of wisdom and beauty of the style. Joris de Bruyne compared beautiful aphorisms with thoughts "performing a pirouette." By the way, he himself is also an unsurpassed author of this literary genre. In general, according to linguists, ideally winged statements consist of 4-7 words and are included inwidespread use from scientific works, philosophical treatises, works of fiction. From physics, mechanics, the words of Archimedes came to us about the fulcrum with which you can turn the world. They have long been abstracted from the exact sciences and acquired their own universal meaning. Perhaps the entire reading population of the Earth knows the aphorisms about the people of Omar Khayyam, Dreiser, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, La Rochefoucauld, Nietzsche, Kant and other great figures of culture and art. They have long entered the priceless treasury of human heritage.

Inimitable Faina

Faina Ranevskaya, the legendary Soviet actress of the first half of the 20th century, has a large number of interesting aphorisms. Sharp-tongued, critically thinking, observant and independent in her judgments, Faina Grigorievna spoke directly, sharply, and in an original way about people and events. Each of her expression hit, as they say, not in the eyebrow, but in the eye. There is irony here, turning into self-mockery, caustic sarcasm and tragic grotesque. It was Ranevskaya who had the idea to compare life with an angry neighbor who passes by without bowing. And how relevant this bitter confession sounds: “I still remember decent people … how old I am!” Her phrases about Mulya, who “do not make me nervous”, and beauty - “a terrible force” have become classics. And only the great Faina could call old age disgusting and “ignorance of God.”