Aphorisms and/or Epigrams

How to get into Second Life without really trying

Selby Evans is Thinkerer Melville in Second Life

Definitions Wikipedia:
An aphorism expresses a general truth in a pithy sentence.
An epigram is a short poem with a clever twist at the end or a concise and witty statement.
Poetry? Some sociolinguists consider the aphorism a compressed poetic genre in itself. Aphorisms typically make extensive use of such devices as alliteration (penny wise, pound foolish), anaphora (a penny saved is a penny earned) and rhyme (a stitch in time saves nine).
Vulcan review Inadequate definition: The terms truth, pithy, clever, and witty do not denote properties of an expression.  They denote properties of the observer and may vary with the observer.
Vulcan definition Any brief expression that someone treats as important enough to merit the application of common poetic or rhetorical devices.
(Note focus on process rather than product.  Note focus on events, and observables at a low level of abstraction, often called concrete.)
Vulcan superclass

Promotional slogans, sound bytes and aphorisms/epigrams

Ambrose Bierce   -- The Devil's Dictionary

Thinkerer's collection

Promotional Slogans:

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Ask the man who owns one.

When you are second, you have to try harder.

Only you can prevent forest fires.

It doesn't matter what they say about you as long as they spell you name right

Go west, young man, go west.

Sound bites

I can't say I don't disagree with what you said.

The web is open 24/7, but when you are there, you are there alone. Second Life is also open 24/7, but there, you are never alone unless you want to be. (TM)

Talk is the earliest form of virtual reality.

Laugh lines

The harder I work, the luckier I get.

In this vale of toil and sin
Your head grows bald, but not your chin -- Burma Shave

Male pattern deafness

Catch lines

Freedom's just another name for nothin' left to lose. - Kris Kristofferson

Memory aids

Spring forward, fall back

Red and Yeller, kill a feller

Righty tighty, lefty loosie

Ambrose Bierce (excerpts)

Arrest --Formally to detain one accused of unusualness.

Bore--A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

Cannon--An instrument employed in the rectification of national boundaries.

Christian -- One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. Congratulation--The civility of envy.

Corporation--An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.

Education --That which discloses to the wise, and disguises from the foolish, their lack of understanding.

Future --That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.

Innards --The stomach, heart, soul, and other bowels.

Insurrection --An unsuccessful revolution.

Learning --The kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious.

Logic --The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.

Love --A temporary insanity curable by marriage.

Philosophy --A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.

Pray --To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.

Rational --Devoid of all delusions save those of observation, experience and reflection.

Religion --A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.

Vote --The instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.

Witch --1, an ugly and repulsive old woman in a wicked league with the Devil; 2, a beautiful and attractive young woman in wickedness a league beyond the Devil.

Zeal --A certain nervous disorder afflicting the young and inexperienced.

Thinkerer's collection (excerpts)

The secret to getting there is to know where you're going.

Optimism does not say the bad won’t happen. It says you can cope with it.

Irregular conjugation: I am self-confident. You are smug. He is arrogant.

Confidence is the secret passage to authority.

Fixers believe they can fix. Complainers believe they can complain. They are both right.

Luke Skywalker: I don’t believe it.
Yoda: That is why you fail.

If you think you can, you are probably right. If you think you can't, you are certainly right.

The path to success is paved with mistakes.

If you can't make a mistake, you can't make anything.

Children focus on what they can’t do. Adults focus on what they can do.

If you don’t notice when you win, you will only notice when you lose.

Luke Skywalker: I'll try.
Yoda: No. Do. Or do not. There is no try.

Why do people believe more in their limits than in their strengths?

What matters is not what you have, but what you can do.

Tell yourself what you can't do. Hear a stop sign. Tell yourself what you can do. What do you hear?

You will know more tomorrow. How will you use that insight today?

Your biggest obstacle is thinking you can't do it.

Sin --a term used to condemn others without taking responsibility for the condemnation.

Luck -- the explanation for the success of other people.

The Thinkerer 10/24/2008
Copyright (c) D. F. Dansereau & S. H. Evans

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Talk is the earliest form of virtual reality.