“The best aphorisms are pointed expressions of the results of observation, experience, and reflection. They are portable wisdom, the quintessential extracts of thought and feeling. They furnish the largest amount of intellectual stimulus and nutriment in the smallest compass. About every weak point in human nature, or vicious spot in human life, there is deposited a crystallization of warning and protective proverbs.”

— William R. Alger

Source: "The Utility and Futility of Aphorisms," 1863, p. 178.

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William R. Alger 17

American clergyman and poet 1822–1905

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