Download Spring Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle
As the river flows inexorably to the sea, sweeping us along, we find ourselves stepping out onto the shore, reflecting on it all. Such moments come as we awaken in the morning, wait at the traffic lights, walk the dog or stir a pot on the boil. Thoughts are the most spontaneous and intimate thing we possess, if indeed we can speak of possession rather than a glimpse of the 11 picture, seen through our eyes, that appears before us day to day. They are what make us who we are, as all that surrounds us pushes, drives, moulds and tests us, forming every fibre of our being. Certainly we are not our thoughts, but we come together when we choose to share them. These aphorisms cover the gamut of the human experience, with recurrent themes of love, liberty, the mind and character. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have enjoyed penning them. The Author The aphorism is a sort of gem, precious as it is rare, Enjoyable only in small doses. Acknowledgements A word of acknowledgement to Nicholas A Tonelli for the kind use of his stunning photography of cascades in Pennsylvania, to Raquel Gaspar for the design, as well as to all those around us who inspire us in our daily lives. Here’s one for them We may inspire close up Or at a distance Sometimes aware of it Sometimes not By being who we are, And the world is a better place An aphorism is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Almost all books of aphorisms, which have ever acquired a reputation, have retained it,” John Stuart Mill wrote in 1837. We prefer collections of aphorisms over big books of philosophy, Mill thought, because the aphorism is, in its algebraic abbreviation, a micro-model of empirical inquiry. We don’t absorb aphorisms as esoteric wisdom; we test them against our own experience.