‘Life Is Short, Art Is Long'

At some point in time, before the common era Greek physician Hippocrates wrote Aphorisms; a book of which relayed life principles in concise, astute clauses. Hippocrates told us that ‘life is short’, to which we agreed, believed and to this day recite, (he also professed that 'In women, blood collected in the breasts indicates madness’, but I suppose we should ignore that as 'ignorance is bliss'). Aphorisms such as, ‘ a friend in need is a friend indeed’, and ‘let nature take its course' are uttered daily by us normal folk, who do not pride ourselves severely on our deeply philosophical minds, however, find truth and solace in these idioms. 
We tell ourselves to 'forgive and forget’, we tell our friends that  ‘honesty is the best policy’, we tell our lovers that ‘ love is blind’, yet, we never forget, we are selectively honest and romantic love tends to follow physical attraction. Aphorisms cascade from our mouths as quick as our breath, without thought of what we are actually expressing, and what these expressions intend; to  ‘forgive and forget’  is never wise if the action is completely forgotten, as you will never ‘ live and learn’, yet to forget and neglect adverse emotions towards the person that you are intending to forgive is the only way you can truly forgive, and so you would have both lived and learned in this short life. (See what I did there.)

There is charming frailty to the common aphorism. There is something refreshing about declaring that ‘ everything happens for a reason’ when the reason is still unforeseeable, or ‘what will be will be’ when the future is dauntingly uncertain. Aphorisms are in some respect a comfort blanket for adult society, little phrases of which provide hope and clarity, however, perhaps the reliance on aphoristic pacifiers are counterproductive when used to simply ignore the truth.  Often 'no news, (is not) good news’; no news for an extended time after a job interview = bad news, now news after a date = bad news, the policy of self-honesty is rejected when this aphorist comfort blanket is deployed, but what would life be without a comforting idiom every so often.

‘Everything Happens For A Reason'

If ‘everything happens for a reason’ (my personal pacifier), and  ‘all is well in love and war’; aphorisms with all their frailty, I would suppose have been created and sustained within an ever developing society for a reason. And although ‘ all that glitters is not gold’’, all that glitters is at least shiny.