(This is perhaps a long introduction to our subject matter, especially if one’s attention span has become habituated to tweets, internet memes, and smartphones.)
- Aphorism: “A ‘definition’ or concise statement of a principle in any science (OED).”
- Adage: “A maxim handed down from antiquity (OED).” Any principle bequeathed from the past is an adage.
- Proverb: A short pithy saying in common and recognized use (OED). A proverb has to be pithy and also common in use.
“We can certainly say that these distinctions in the definition are largely ignored in practical usage. Along with these three words, others like ‘saw,’ ‘maxim’ and ‘apothegm’ could also be used interchangeably. Proverb, adage and appear to be the most common oral and literary form.”
“You could say that an aphorism is a perverse or paradoxical proverb; a corrective for experience. Auden says they’re an aristocratic genre of writing (Viking Book of Aphorisms). Hollingdale … says they’re ‘philosophical,’ while epigrams are not, and they have the impact of the punch line of a joke, For example: ‘There are truths that go around so dressed up you would take them for lies, but which are pure truths none the less.’”
- A proverb is “a short pithy saying in common use, a concise sentence, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or observation and familiar to all,” Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Webster’s Second: A proverb is an adage couched usually in homely and vividly concrete phrase; as, accused (in the phrase of a homely proverb) of being “penny-wise and pound-foolish” (The Spectator).
- An adage “is a saying of long-established authority and universal application,” Webster’s Second.
- An apothegm is “a terse, pointed saying embodying an important truth in a few words,” Shorter Oxford; “a terse and sententious aphorism,” Webster’s Second; Liddell & Scott say of the Greek apophthegm, “to speak one’s opinion plainly; metaphorical of vessels when struck.”
- A saying “is a brief current or habitual expression of whatever form,” Webster’s Second
The difference between an aphorism and a proverb seems to be very minimal. They often cover similar subjects, they have the same basic structures, and there seems to be some overlap.
The words ‘aphorism’ and ‘proverb’ come from Greek and Latin, respectively. ‘Aphorism’ comes from the Greek word ‘aphorismos,’ which meant a pithy phrase containing a general truth. That came from the word ‘aphorizo,’ which meant ‘I define’ or ‘I determine’, so ‘aphorismos’ probably meant a phrase that defined some aspect of life. ‘Proverb’ comes from the Latin word ‘proverbium,’ formed from ‘pro’ meaning ‘for,’ ‘verb’ meaning ‘word,’ and the –ium suffix, which was used to mark a noun as nominative, or describing what something was. The overall meaning could be considered ‘a word for,’ as in ‘a word (or phrase) for the situation.’
An aphorism is defined as a short saying that is both original and conveys a deeper meaning about life, often concise and meaningful, otherwise known as ‘pithy.’ This would mean that a quote that conveys some fundamental truth would be an aphorism. A proverb, on the other hand, is defined as a phrase expressing a basic truth. Originality is not specified in the meaning, which is a good thing because many proverbs are said over and over again. However, the definition of a proverb has been subject to some controversy.
The biggest difference between the two, based on many of the examples given seems to be that aphorisms more often quotes from famous people while proverbs are often not given a source.
‘No amount of reasoning is going to help a person see the way that he does not want to see.” — Rolland, French
That quote has been used as an aphorism. The English language has a proverb which expresses the same idea: ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.’
The majority of aphorisms also seem to be literal while proverbs are more often metaphorical. There are a number of literal proverbs, but they seem to be less than half. This might be due to the fact that the aphorisms are more often quotes. While the writers of these aphorisms might use an example to back up their truth, they often have to summarize their meaning to capture the attention of the reader. Proverbs often come with their meaning attached, since many people learn them as children, so they are more recognized.
Some people say that proverbs are types of aphorisms. However, given the definition above and the typical examples, it would seem more likely that aphorisms are a type of proverb. Specifically, they are ones that are given a source, meaning they are original to the person who defined that truth.
Other people say that the difference between aphorisms and proverbs is that aphorisms are more instructive in nature while proverbs are witty observations. This could be true, given that it’s easier to take the instruction of a clear comment than a metaphor. However, of the examples given for each type, that appears to be the other way around. The aphorisms appear to be more observational while the proverbs are more instructive.
Others say that aphorisms tend to be shorter than proverbs. While this can be true, it is not always true: ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’—Lord Acton
The proverb form – that is, the one most commonly repeated, which is said to be a proverb – of this aphorism is “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” which is shorter than the aphorism. In any case, the majority of sayings said to be aphorisms are quotes from famous people or from novels. Proverbs, while sometimes taken from novels or famous quotes, are most often unsourced. That appears to be the most prominent difference between the two.
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Adage: An aphorism that has that has gained credit through long use.
Example: Where there's smoke, there’s fire.
Aphorism: A tersely, memorable phrased statement of a truth or opinion; an adage.
Example: He’s a fool who cannot conceal his wisdom.
Cliché: An overly commonplace, banal or trite saying, expression or idea. Sometimes the terms stereotype or platitude are used as a synonym. Clichés can be defined as preconceived twists, hackneyed and worn out by too frequent use of images, modes of expression, speech and thought patterns. These are often used thoughtlessly and without individual conviction.
Example: All Americans are very open.
Epigram: A concise, clever, often paradoxical statement, thought or observation; sometimes expressed as a short, witty poem.
Example: The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.
Epithet: A descriptive term (= word or phrase) used to characterize a person or thing, that has become popular is commonly understood.
Example: The Great Emancipator — as a term for Abraham Lincoln.
Folklore: The term in the narrower sense means oral lore of a group of people. In the broader sense folklore describes the totality of ‘demotic‘ traditions. It often has religious or mythical elements. See also: myth, (urban) legend, tale, oral tradition. [From Old English - folk = ‘people’ and lore = ‘tradition’ or ‘knowledge’] Therefore folklore literally means ‘knowledge of the people’ or ‘tradition of the people.’
Idiom: An expression that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of the words. Quite a few idioms are language specific, and thus difficult to translate.
Example: A cold day in Hell
Hyperbole: A figure of speech (or any rhetorical device) in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, mostly beyond credibility. [Greek huperbol, exaggeration, from: huper (= beyond) and ballein (= to throw)] It is encountered in casual speech, as in — ‘I could sleep for a year’ — ‘This book weighs a ton.’
Maxim: Compared with its approximate synonyms: saying, adage, saw, motto, epigram, proverb, aphorism, the term maxim stresses the succinct formulation of a fundamental principle, general truth, or rule of conduct. [Latin: maximus, ‘greatest,’ via the expression maxima propositio, ‘greatest premise.’]
Example: Neither a borrower nor a lender be.
Motto: A brief statement used to express a principle, a motivation, a goal, or an ideal.
Examples: Be Prepared; Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity (FBI).
Phrasal verb: An English verb and one or more following particles (e.g. a preposition or adverb); the combination creates a meaning different from the original verb thus acting as a complete syntactic and semantic unit.
Example: The new teacher passes for a linguist.
Proverb: A simple and short saying, widely known, often metaphorical, which expresses a basic truth or practical precept, based on common sense or cultural experience.
Example: Honesty is the best policy.
Pun: This is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of words (or of similar-sounding words) for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect.
Example: A fool with a tool is still a fool.
Quip: A clever or witty observation or remark, with a tendency to descend into sarcasm, or otherwise is short of point. [Latin: quippe = ‘indeed’ - meaning: smart remark]
Example: Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
Saying: A short well-known expression — a pithy remark of wisdom and truth or a general advice.
Example: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Saw: An old familiar saying that is commonplace, longstanding and occasionally trite (sometimes through repetition). [Old English: synonym for ‘saying’ - meaning: uneducated wisdom, often based in superstitions]
Example: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Slogan: This is a memorable motto or phrase used as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. Also called tagline or one liner.
Example: Make learning fun.
Winged Word: A popular saying which can be attributed (as a citation) to a specific source. These phrases have found entrance into general usage. Among them are often terse descriptions of complex matters or those of life experiences.
Example: Writing on the wall (Biblical book of Daniel)
Witticism: Witty remarks can be intentionally cruel and are more ingenious than funny.
Lady Astor said to Churchill, ‘If you were my husband, I’d poison your tea,’ Churchill replied ‘Madam, if you were my wife, I’d drink it!’
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“Proverbs are unique in several respects. They represent one of the oldest genres in world literature, if not the oldest. They may be transmitted individually, or gathered into collections, or inserted in other contexts. They are often transmitted orally and thus can have an extraordinarily long shelf life. They may be couched in prose or poetry. They may serve as part of a school curriculum or as a repository of folk wisdom widely cited at suitable times. They may impart behavior that is ethical, or reverent, or politically correct. Most often they convey practical knowledge for the daily life humanity. Yet for all these and other divergent and sometimes mutually contradictory characteristics, proverbs have one thing in common: they are short [unlike some maxims by the French moralists], pithy statements expressing eternal verities and couched in piquant language suitable for memorizing.”
Bailey’s 1,350 proverbs “are drawn strictly from the daily life of the Bedouin, to the exclusion of any proverbial wisdom shared with Arabic speakers generally. Like Bedouin poetry, which the author has called the ‘mirror of a culture,’ they thus reflect the Bedouin lifestyle [which is swiftly disappearing; see titles in my Bedouin bibliography for more on this], the “culture of desert survival” in the Sinai peninsula and the Negev, where the author collected his material over thirty-five years of indefatigable fieldwork. But that lifestyle is disappearing before our very eyes as village settlement is [often] being [ruthlessly] promoted by Egypt and Israel respectively, as it is in other countries of the entire ‘Fertile Crescent,’ whose edges have always sustained a population of pastoralists living in a more or less uneasy symbiosis with the agriculturalists [historical narratives surrounding the beginnings of Islam inadvertently narrate this ‘uneasy symbiosis’]. [….] Bailey’s collection represents the precious preservation of a vanishing literary legacy.”— From the Foreword by William W. Hallo to Clinton Bailey’s A Culture of Desert Survival: Bedouin Proverbs from Sinai and the Negev (Yale University Press, 2004)
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Proverbial Wisdom: a brief introduction to proverbs
Please note: I am not addressing the Book of Proverbs1 in the Hebrew Bible (Hebrew: מִשְלֵי, Míshlê [Shlomoh], ‘Proverbs [of Solomon’], which is part of Ketuvim, ‘Writings,’ the third section of Tanakh), what Christians call the Old Testament, nor am I speaking to Erasmus’ annotated collection of Greek and Latin proverbs, Adagia,2 compiled during the Renaissance.
“True enough, ordinary people do not produce bodies of written reflection expounding their views of life. [We can readily imagine several likely explanations for this fact: they are comparatively disadvantaged: oppressed or exploited, they are preoccupied with ‘making a living’ and their discretionary time, such as it is, involves entertainment or forms of escape form the drudgery or dreariness of their everyday lives, they are poorly educated, their social and economic circumstances are conducive to neither individuation of self-realization, and so forth and so on.] But other roads lead into their avenues of thought. In particular, a communal group’s proverbial dicta provide us with a window into life as seen by ordinary people—an insight into the philosophical outlook of [the masses] that would otherwise remain mute because philosophy, literature, scholarship, and other modes of written expression remain outside its range.
By common dictionary definition, a proverb is a popular maxim that pithily conveys a useful lesson or instruction. The three salient features of a proverb are thus instructiveness, brevity, and popularity. And its reason for being is to provide useful guidance in the conduct of life. Perhaps we [Rescher is speaking of philosophers and those who read philosophy] can learn but little from this source of ‘popular philosophy,’ but that little is neither uninstructive nor uninteresting. For the proverbs of a people show us how they really think about things.
Proverbs are generally anonymous, passed down from time immemorial. Sometimes, however, the dictum of an identifiable individual becomes proverbial—as, for example, Sir Robert Walpole’s cynical remark now familiarly rendered as ‘Every man has his price.’ [Donald J. Trump believes this, Kant does not, assuming here that ‘price’ can also be metaphorical.] Proverbial wisdom is overwhelmingly concerned with the conduct of life, formulating the ‘commonsense’ lessons put at the disposal of everyone the hard-won wisdom of the sagacious. [….] Hence the bulk of it is devoted to rules and instructions (‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’). To be sure, proverbs are sometimes framed in the form of questions. But then the questions are rhetorical and do duty for an injunction. [….] Here, as elsewhere, the exception tests (not proves, save in an antiquated sense of the term) the rule: Exceptio probat regulam.
Proverbial wisdom’s messages are generally universal. In overwhelming measure, proverbs reflect constancies of the human condition and not cultural peculiarities of particular groups or eras. [Rescher here provides numerous examples in a variety of languages.] The basic message is generally universal, although the particular mode of expression may be culturally shaped in ways that call for backward [i.e., historical!] information about prevailing conditions: the English ridicule taking coal to Newcastle, the Greeks taking owls to Athens, the Indians taking pepper to Hindustan. Sometimes, however, closely kindred proverbs move off in somewhat different directions: ‘When it rains, it pours, means once troubles begin for someone, he or she has lots of them [it seems in this instance there is a ‘tipping point’ leading to ‘slippery slope’]. But ‘Cuando llueve todos se mojan’ [‘when it rains, everyone gets wet’] means once troubles begin for someone, many people are affected.”—From Nicholas Rescher’s chapter, “Proverbial Wisdom,” in his book, Human Interests: Reflections on Philosophical Anthropology (Stanford University Press, 1990): 36-41.
“Quotable” definitions of proverbs inasmuch as I found them clever, incisive, or imaginative, in addition to being more or less true (I also came across some ‘quotable’ definitions that did not strike me as true, while others were needlessly and thus annoyingly elitist and condescending):
- “A short sentence based on long experience.”—Miguel de Cervantes
- “The sanctuary of the intuitions”—Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Consist usually of a natural fact selected as a picture or parable of a moral truth.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “They are all made for men, for their own advantage.”—Thomas Hardy
- “The proverbs of a nation furnish an index to its spirit, and the results of its civilization.”—Josiah G. Holland
- “The wisdom of the streets.”—William G. Benham
- “The philosophy of the common people.”—James Howell
- “Few words, right sense, fine imagery.”—Moses Ibn Ezra
- “A little gospel.”—Spanish proverb
I found these in Eugene E. Russell, ed. Webster’s New World Dictionary of Quotable Definitions (Prentice Hall, 2nd ed., 1988)
Notes
- The Book of Proverbs is “traditionally placed among the ‘Writings’ and considered part of the wisdom literature. It consists in part of short sayings expressing in pithy form insights into human affairs, especially of a social and religious natures. The Hebrew word (māšāl) translated ‘proverb’ can mean comparison, and many of the proverbs contain a metaphor or simile. The dates of the material within the book range over a long period of time; while the final edition was made after the exile [hence ‘postexilic’], probably in the fifth century B.C.E., much of the actual contents are earlier and some of it is even pre-monarchic. The oral origins are often obvious.” For the rest of this helpful introductory entry, please see “Proverbs, The Book of,” in Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, eds. The Oxford Companion to the Bible (Oxford University Press, 1993): 624-626.
- “Adagia (singular adagium) is the title of an annotated collection of Greek and Latin proverbs, compiled during the Renaissance by Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus. Erasmus’ collection of proverbs is ‘one of the most monumental ... ever assembled’ (Speroni, 1964: 1). The first edition, titled Collectanea Adagiorum, was published in Paris in 1500, in a slim quarto of around eight hundred entries. By 1508, after his stay in Italy, Erasmus had expanded the collection (now called Adagiorum chiliades tres or ‘Three thousands of proverbs’) to over 3,000 items, many accompanied by richly annotated commentaries, some of which were brief essays on political and moral topics. The work continued to expand right up to the author’s death in 1536 (to a final total of 4,151 entries), confirming the fruit of Erasmus’ vast reading in ancient literature.” An English translation of a selection of the proverbs made by William Barker with ample contextual and explanatory material is found in The Adages of Erasmus (University of Toronto Press, 2nd ed., 2001).
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Aphorisms in Indic worldviews and traditions
In Indian literary (including religious and philosophical) traditions a sūtra (सूत्र, ‘string’ or ‘thread’; Pali: sutta) refers to an aphorism (cf. maxims, proverbs, etc.) or more often a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a condensed manual or text. Sūtra(s) are a genre of ancient and medieval Indic texts found, for example, in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, as well as other literary, medical, legal, and loosely scientific traditions. Because of their aphoristic or condensed (or even enigmatic) quality, they typically require and thus are often accompanied by one or more bhāṣya(s) (भाष्य), which are expositions, interpretations, and commentaries of the sūtra(s).
“The Heart Sūtra (Sanskrit: प्रज्ञापारमिताहृदय Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya; Chinese: 心經 Xīnjīng) is a popular sutra in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Its Sanskrit title, Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya, can be translated as ‘The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom.’ The sutra famously states, ‘Form is empty’ (śūnyatā). It is a condensed exposé on the Buddhist Mahayana teaching of the Two Truths doctrine, which says that ultimately all phenomena are śūnyatā, empty of an unchanging essence. This emptiness is a ‘characteristic’ of all phenomena, and not (simply or solely) a transcendent reality, but also ‘empty’ of an essence of its own.”
I have introduced the term sūtra here because I recently came across a work in English which has a sūtra-like quality to it; at the very least, its aphorisms often pack a philosophical punch and, from my vantage point at least, call for, provoke, or demand further elucidation of one kind or another. I stumbled upon this gem of a book while browsing in a local bookstore, having never heard of its author, but the enchanting title quickly captured my attention: On Art and Mindfulness: Notes from the Anderson Ranch (Snowmass, CO: Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Whale & Star Press, 2nd ed., 2015). It is written by one Enrique Martinez Celaya, who has trained as an artist and physicist, having exhibited his works internationally, as we say, with some of his art in permanent collections of well-known museums. The material for the book was drawn from the summer workshops and seminars he taught over nine years at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado. While I have yet to view his art in more than a cursory manner, I have begun reading his book! For now I want to share just one aphorism:
“Freedom is elusive and frequently it is not where we think it ought to be. Much time is devoted to talking about freedom in art,* but art is most about boundaries. About constraints.”
By way of reference to an appropriate but unintentional bhāṣya that speaks to the importance of (intrinsic, imposed, and self-imposed) constraints and conventions (or ‘soft’ constraints), both those which reflect one’s discipline and training as well as those constraints one has deliberately chosen as a form of “self-binding,” I recommend Jon Elster’s incisive discussion in the chapter “Less Is More: Creativity and Constraint in the Arts,” from his book, Ulysses Unbound: Studies in Rationality, Precommitment, and Constraints (Cambridge University Press, 2000). Longstanding friends and acquaintances will be familiar with my predilection for finding excuses or ample reason to cite this particular work by Elster (which, like all good books, I return to again and again).
* There are of course moments of freedom or autonomy throughout the process of producing creative and compelling works of art. In the words of Nick Zangwill, “even when there are external influencing factors which impinge on the artist’s decision-making, there are always some properties of the work which cannot be explained without reference to the artist’s intrinsic desire that the work should be a certain way.” In other words,
“ … [W]hen all the influencing factors constraining art production have been taken into account, there is a residual space in which the artist has freedom. This freedom implies a lack of concern with actual or dispositional effects of the work on others—except in the sense that the artist is concerned that the audience will recognize or have a disposition to recognize the values [aesthetic and otherwise] that the artist believes have been realized in the work.” Please see Zangwill’s important philosophical explanation of fundamental features of art in relation to aesthetic properties in his book, Aesthetic Creation (Oxford University Press, 2007).
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