Hatchards, Piccadily
January 15, 2026, 6:30pm — 187 Piccadilly, London, UK
Pints of Knowledge
January 28, 2026, 7:00pm — Venue TBA, London, UK
Cambridge Literary Festival
April 22–26, 2026 — Cambridge, UK
International Literature Festival Dublin
May 15–24, 2026 — Dublin, Ireland
Bradford Literature Festival
July 3-12, 2026 — Bradford, UK
Iowa City Book Festival
October 2026 — Iowa City, IA
The World in a Phrase
A Brief History of the Aphorism - Second Edition
Celebrating the short, witty, philosophical phrases known as aphorisms, this delightful history is an entertaining tour through the wisest and wittiest sayings in the world.
Aphorisms are literature’s hand luggage. Light and compact, they contain everything you need to get through a rough day at the office or a dark night of the soul. Aphorisms, the oldest written art form on the planet, have been going viral for thousands of years, delivering the short, sharp shock of old forgotten truths. Today, visual artists are mixing pithy language with compelling imagery and using social media to take the form into the future. In a world of disinformation and deepfakes, aphorisms point to the power of fresh debate over tired dogma and inconvenient truths over comfortable lies.
Starting in ancient China and ending with contemporary meme-makers and street artists, The World in A Phrase tells the story of the aphorism through brief biographies of some of its greatest practitioners, from the Buddha, Nietzsche, and George Eliot to James Baldwin, Audre Lorde and David Byrne. The World in A Phrase is for lovers of words and seekers of wisdom. This new edition of the New York Times bestseller features 26 additional aphorists and explores the aphorism in the age of social media, showing why these short sentences are the ultimate deep dives in an era when TL;DR has become a cultural catchphrase.
Read an excerpt from The Psychologist on how the Ukrainian government's official X account uses memes as aphorisms
Order Now
Praise for The Second Edition
“An accessible and funny guide to millennia of aphorisms.”
– Karl Whitney, Irish Examiner
“A definitive—and delightful—handbook to the hard-to-define aphorism.”
– John Kelly, Mashed Radish
“A museum of humanity held in the palm of one's hand.”
– Lee Seong-bok, South Korean poet and aphorist
Praise for The Original Edition
“Geary fell in love with aphorisms when, at 8, his eye wandered to the Quotable Quotes section of Reader’s Digest ... His attraction turned into a lifetime obsession, which he indulges to the fullest in ‘The World in a Phrase’, his entertaining love letter to the compact form.”
– New York Times
“Probably the definitive work on aphorisms, a love letter-cum-memoir disguised as a reference book ... fellow fanatics will be delighted.”
– Publishers Weekly
“It is impossible not to be swept along with Geary’s enthusiasm. He has illuminated some poignant observations of the significance of introspection.”
– The Times Literary Supplement
“What a pleasant, personal, thoughtful little book ... Geary’s account is full of wonderful aphorisms .... Delightful.”
– Booklist
Events
Upcoming Appearances
January 15, 2026, 6:30pm, 187 Piccadilly, London, UK
January 28, 2026, 7:00pm, Venue TBA, London, UK
April 22–26, 2026, Cambridge, UK
International Literature Festival Dublin
May 15–24, 2026, Dublin, Ireland
July 3-12, 2026, Bradford, UK
October 2026, Iowa City, IA
2025 World in A Phrase Appearances
Video talk: Literature's Peak Experience: How Aphorisms Work
October 10, Fairfax, VA
International Aphorism Conference
October 24-25, Wroclaw, Poland
November 10, 7pm, 1256 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
November 12, 10am, Charleston, SC
November 15, 3pm, 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC
in collaboration with The Rabkin Foundation
November 18, 7pm, 519 Congress St., Portland, ME
November 21, 6pm, 1708 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA
The past few weeks in The World in a Phrase
December 27, 2025
Here's a round up of some of the interviews, talks, and articles that have appeared on The World in a Phrase over the past few weeks...
On the ePODstemology podcast, host Mark Fabian and I discussed how I go about conducting research on aphorisms and my year in the British Library compiling Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists (3:37-6:00); Voltaire, the sacrament of confirmation, and doubt as a creative, fertile state of mind (25:37-27:50); the importance of a cross-cultural approach to aphorisms (30:50-35:44); the difference between aphorisms and haiku and abstract paintings (44:32-45:25); light verse as aphorisms (46:48-49:49); and Spinoza’s definition of love (56:00-57:38).
On The Literary Obsessive, host Eleanor Anstruther and I explored aphorisms as psychological circuit breakers and psychoactive substances.
On Bookbound on Dublin City FM, host Paul O’Doherty and I chatted about the 5 Laws of the Aphorism; Lao Tzu’s culinary and political advice; Muhammad’s counsel to camel owners; and Wittgenstein’s aphorisms about language. (15:44-28:16).
You can hear my talk at Politics and Prose in DC on the bookshop’s Politics and Prose Presents channel on Spotify.
And in The Atlantic, check out my essay Aphoristic intelligence beats artificial intelligence: It’s not just okay for some things in life to be hard—it’s essential.
Plus, here's a photograph of the bookmark I received from the great Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver

on the occasion of my Wit's End talk there in February 2020, which fell out of my copy of Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves the other day...

Books
-
Wit's End
What Wit is, How it Works, and Why We Need It
Wit is often thought of as simply being funny. But wit is more than just having a knack for snappy comebacks. Wit is the quick, instinctive intelligence that allows us to think, say or do the right thing at the right time in the right place.
-
I Is an Other
The Secret Life of Metaphor and
How It Shapes the Way We See the WorldNew York Times bestselling author James Geary offers a fascinating look at metaphors and their influence in every aspect of our lives, from ordinary conversation and commercial messaging to news reports and political speeches.
-
Geary's Guide to the
World's Great AphoristsGeary's Guide is the result of a lifetime's obsession with aphorisms and a year's death-defying research in the British Library. More than 350 authors from around the world, some of whom appear here in English for the first time, are brought together in this lively and thought-provoking compendium.
-
The World in a Phrase
A Brief History of the Aphorism - Second Edition
Celebrating the short, witty, philosophical phrases known as aphorisms, this delightful history is an entertaining tour through the wisest and wittiest sayings in the world. This new edition of the New York Times bestseller explores the aphorism in the age of social media, showing why these short sentences are the ultimate deep dives in an era when TL;DR has become a cultural catchphrase.
-
The Body Electric
An Anatomy Of The New Bionic Senses
Drawing on fields as diverse as artificial intelligence and neuroscience, The Body Electric provides an exciting synthesis of the people and technology making the convergence between biology and technology possible, while addressing the psychological, social and philosophical implications of these startling developments.