So Quote Me!

Flannery O’Connor says

“The ideal form for unadulterated wisdom is the aphorism.”1

A. G. Sertillanges, in Chapter 1 of The Intellectual Life, concurs:

“The world is in danger for lack of life-giving maxims.”

Well, here we go!

I love aphorisms, so may all my unadulterated wisdom be yours for the taking, or at least some of it I’ve managed to aphor-ize.

“Truth can comprehend error, but error can’t comprehend truth.”

“Don’t be a BB!”

“It’s not a great idea until it’s well-expressed.”

“Unless it moves through you, it doesn’t get to you.”

“Aim to get the child done through the work, not the work done through the child.”

“Your free act is an invitation to freedom for those who receive it.”

“Nothing is wasted in God’s economy.”

“You’re not going around in circles, but growing spirally, like a tree!”

“Christ makes you more truly and fully who you really are.”

“Today, you are more fully realized than ever before.”

“If it isn’t moving, it’s not mercy.”

“Sarcasm is the sound of one who despairs of being heard.”

“Frustration is the constant state of impatient souls.”

“Stop driving and dance!”

“To be free is to wield yourself according to your own desires, and to yield yourself according to God’s.”

“Think great thoughts!”

1Flannery, in a review of Walter F. Kerr’s book Criticism and Censorship, collected in The Presence of Grace (and other reviews by Flannery O’Connor), compiled by Leo Zuber, edited by Carter W. Martin, published by University of Georgia Press, 2008