I first blogged about the aphorisms of Gregory Gash and Aron Vigushin back in March; now they’re back, translated once again from the Russian by Aron Vigushin, with some biographical information and more aphorisms… Vigushin is a civil engineer-designer with some 50 years of experience. He discovered aphorisms early in life “as a convenient short form by which I could record my observations,” he says. “These aphorisms share my thoughts about family, friends and, most importantly, children and grandchildren. The purpose of their creation is to do everything in my power to ensure that children and grandchildren become better human beings and inherit more of our virtues and less of our vices.”

In response to budget cuts, the light at the end of the tunnel is being switched-off today.

Politicians resort to hysterics to be part of historic events.

Don’t be a small time crook, you’ll just end up in jail; be a big-time crook, you’ll make history.

The sign of a healthy nation is its ability to laugh at itself.

Gregory Gash was born in Minsk but has lived in Israel since 1992. In Minsk, Gash was also a civil engineer as well as a journalist, working for the newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussia (Soviet Belarus). He has published 11 satirical books, including You are Here, Not There and Epigrammy. He regularly appears on Israeli radio and television shows in Israel. In 1993, he won an epigram competition conducted on Russian TV.

Both aphorists and sculptors chop off all unnecessary parts.

Strong expressions compensate for weak arguments.

To give weight to nonsense, whisper it into someone’s ear.

People bump into each other so often because everyone follows their own path.

Biography: what really happened to a person. Memoirs: what the person wishes would have happened.

God created everything from nothing. We are busy doing the opposite.