I blame La Rochefoucauld, Chamfort, Vauvenargues, et al… Ever since the golden age of the French aphorism, which lasted roughly from the 16th to the 18th centuries, aphorisms have had an aristocratic reputation, as if the only people who could write and understand them were wealthy noblemen and disaffected dukes. I’ve always thought that was complete hogwash. Aphorisms are, in fact, the most democratic of all written art forms. They have been written and understood for millennia by absolutely everybody, everywhere, at every time in history. And they can still be found in the most unexpected places—on billboards, in pop songs, and out of the mouths of beloved family members. So I am grateful to Ingrid Hunter for sharing some of the sayings of her “late, great Aunt Della,” who is living proof that aphorisms are alive and well and probably regularly spoken by someone near and dear to you:

A drunk mind speaks a sober thought.

Never count on a dead man’s shoes.

Opportunity has long hair in the front and short hair in the back.

Anything is easy if someone else is doing it.

Very seldom does a leopard change its spots.