Thanks to Neil Denny for such a fun, wide-ranging conversation on the Little Atoms podcast, largely structured around consideration of individual aphorists from the book, including Jesus (12:00-14:50), Jean Toomer (20:00-22:05), Emily Dickinson, Dorothy Parker and Samuel Hoffenstein (24:15-26-35), and Sarah Manguso (28:30-30:30), among others.

And thanks to Jacke Wilson at The History of Literature podcast for an equally fun, wide-ranging conversation featuring a discussion of aphorisms as mnemonic devices for intense experience (14:30-16:00) and aphorisms as rhetorical devices (28:10-32:50) and also, coincidentally, largely structured around consideration of individual aphorists from the book, including Confucius (34:30-36:50), Montaigne (37:00-39-25), and E.M. Cioran (39:40-43:45).

For an excellent exploration of aphorisms as expressions of political dissent and social critique, check out The Londoner’s profile of Nick, who hangs billboards with aphorisms and aphorism-adjacent slogans on them from the balcony of his second-floor flat near Finsbury Park station. Each of Nick’s signs, Roland Hughes reports, “always have a phrase painted on it, [are] always nearly a metre high, always in bold, black-on-white sans-serif lettering. When it comes to his messages, Nick has a few rules. They will contain a pithy, usually three- or four-word slogan. They will usually hint at a deep distrust of authority and, to put it politely, the way information is distributed. There will be common themes: war, protest laws, surveillance, the media. Nick’s favourites, he says, are ‘ones that question the narratives; the acceptance of which, let’s face it, has got us into a terrible state.’”

Some of Nick’s posts include…

WHICH LIES DO YOU BELIEVE?

EXPECT ANOTHER FALSE FLAG PSYOP

MAKE THE SKY BLUE AGAIN

REGISTER YOUR CHICKEN

Nick’s work is a great example of the aphorism as public art, appropriating the language and distribution methods of advertising to make political statements, as artists like Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger have been doing since the 1970s.