And he does it quite well. A few of the more famous dead aphorists are E. Cioran, Joseph Joubert and Karl Krauss. Christopher is their equal, and, in my humble opinion, their better. Cioran can be depressingly morbid, Joubert often verges on the flighty and Krauss gets bitterly snarky. On his part, Christopher hits just the right note.
An aphorism is "a short, concise statement of a principle; a short, pointed sentence containing some important truth or precept. Try it this way: And — this is the point — they are extremely hard to create and then write down on paper.
Because they are a mixture of rocket science and art. Since aphorisms might also be called "maxims," it would be safe to say Spranger "maximizes. Whereas in fact, he makes things smaller, reducing entire philosophies to one sentence. Let me give you a couple of examples. Here are two aphorisms that Christopher conjured up. It is probably best to remain silent in the presence of an exquisitely beautiful woman — unless, of course, you are capable of paying her a compliment that tops the Trojan War.
My questions are regular enough, but his answers are extraordinary. Christopher has had two volumes of his aphorisms published. I own three copies of The Effort to Fall , published by Green Integer, and I've given several more copies as Christmas and birthday gifts.
A Book of Poisonous Contemplations. Could you provide a little background information about yourself? Where you work, what you do, education? Perhaps you prefer it that way. The time I spent incarcerated in schools is not at all relevant to my intellectual development.
