notes: aphorisms

What good are aphorism lists? When I view others' lists, I feel that the majority of the aphorisms are dull. Most aphorism lists are on highly disparate subjects, too, with no feeling of continuity in them. And anyone can collect a list. Some even collect lists with many thousands of aphorisms. In internet times, people collect them in forms of lists for email signatures. Mainly these ones are humourous; and some are truly great. But it's always personal preference. Sometimes it's well to try to propogate lesser known aphorisms, that they might be picked up by others and so memed... but I rather feel that aphorism lists are personal scrapbooks of thoughts. The aphorism anthology to the individual; let those who tresspass beware.

• "He who goes through a rich man’s park, and sees things in it which never bless the mental eyesight of the possessor, is richer than he."—Leigh Hunt, On the Realities of Imagination.
• "I have always imagined paradise as some kind of library."—Jorge Luis Borges
• "When the matter is low or scanty, a dead language, in which nothing is mean because nothing is familiar, affords great conveniences; and by the sonorous magnificence of Roman syllables, the writer conceals penury of thought, and want of novelty, often from the reader, and often from himself."—Dr. Johnson, Life of Addison.
• "If you say what you mean rather than what you want done with it, you can repurpose it so much better"—TimBL
• "[...] there has been motion in the W@P Forum and the voice portal industry to try to recapture the 'anyone, anywhere, connected to anything' capability that the Web seemed to promise..."—Al Gilman
• "[In XML] the lack of </> is a crime against humanity."—DanC, #rdfig 2001-07-20 22:21
• "Þe snawe snitered ful snart, þat snayped þe wylde; / Þe werbelande wynde wapped fro þe hy3e, / And drof vche dale ful of dryftes ful grete."—Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, author or authoress unknown
• "I know not how I seem to others, but to myself I am but a small child wandering upon the vast shores of knowledge, every now and then finding a small bright pebble to content myself with while the vast ocean of undiscovered truth lay before me."—Sir. Isaac Newton
• "One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words"—Goethe
• "Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths"—Bertrand Russell
• "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use"—Kierkegaard
• "The damned whore Reason..."—Martin Luther

Also: a signatures list would be good to maintain... perhaps. What's the difference between sigs and aphorisms?