Bill Chapko is an aphorist, and an aphorist computer technician. He’s developed what he calls the Lifetime Uncategorized Computer-Aided Collection of Aphorisms (LUCCA). He says it’s a “place for people who want to write aphorisms” and it can be found here. Mr. Chapko designed LUCCA “to make writing and reading aphorisms as easy and as widespread as possible. It also supports the view that aphorisms are inspirations, caught on the fly, and in general shouldn’t be ‘worked on’ afterwards.” He describes LUCCA, somewhat spookily, as “as an expanded gravestone, where you put your most important words.”

Mr. Chapko is still very much alive and well, though. He’s an American chiropractor living in Italy—and even says my back pain will eventually disappear! He also runs a website called Nietzsche for Creative Spirits, dedicated to that great German bombastic aphorist. Mr. Chapko himself has been writing aphorisms in little notebooks off and on since 1966. His sons have developed the habit, too. Jason, at age 14, came up with:

Death — nobody knows what it is and everyone is going to find out.

Daniel, at age 12, penned:

The sun can never see any shadows.

Here is a selection of Chapko Sr.’s aphorisms; more are available on his website:

Truth is what you see when you wake up.

Don’t confuse sane with same.

Truth is retrograde. The newborn sees best.