Aphorisms, quotations and scripture

 I have been thinking about scriptures, proverbs, aphorisms and sayings because I’ve been reading The Quotable Thoreau.

Reading Thoreau in short bites is like reading scripture. Jeffrey S. Cramer collected his quotable lines — I’d call them aphorisms — and collected them by topic. Here are two specimens:

 

Friends

They cherish each other’s hopes. They are kind to each other’s dreams.

 

Thinking

The greatest compliment that was ever paid me when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.

 

I think we use certain writings in a peculiar way — like some people use their scriptures.

If you asked whether two people were friends or just acquaintances, Thoreau might ask how they treat each other’s hopes and dreams.

If it’s been a while since you’ve had a good conversation, that line on thinking might help. You’d just have to use it. Act on it.

• Source: The Quotable Thoreau, edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer; Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2011, pp. 110 and 316.