Show notes
Michael Rosen talks to James Geary about his lifetime obsession, aphorisms. These short, witty philosophical sayings have been coined by everyone from Emily Dickinson and James Baldwin to Hallmark, and even Michael's mum. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven, in partnership with the Open University.
Highlighted moments
Aphorisms make you think. They promote debate. They don't promote dogma.
“it must be personal. It must have an author. So we know that Robert Frost wrote the poem, Two Roads, the Virgin, and the Woods. But a phrase like, let sleeping dogs lie, that's a proverb because it's been used over millennia so often that the identity of the author has been rubbed away by all the times it's been quoted across the centuries.”
“You can't have an although after it. Let self-sacrifice be its own reward. Except on Wednesdays, after four o'clock.”
“we kneel before heroes, not invaders.”
Transcript
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