An Aphorism for Insight
Interpreting a saying

An aphorism or adage makes a profound point in a few words. Students might be interested to know that people who write aphorisms have a certain attitude, or perhaps confidence. “The aphorist does not argue or explain, he [or she] asserts; and implicit in his assertion is a conviction that he is wiser or more intelligent than his readers,” write W.H. Auden and Louis Kronenberger in the preface to The Viking Book of Aphorisms, a Personal Selection. Ask students to chose one of the following two aphorisms that relate to history and interpret it using what they learned in the lesson. How true is the aphorism? Is it an overstatement? Can they provide examples to substantiate their opinions?

The handwriting on the wall may be a forgery.
Ralph Hodgson

The essential matter of history is not what happened but what people thought or said about it.
Frederic Maitland