© 2026 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

James Geary Captures 'The World in a Phrase'

Mark Twain once said, "I never let school interfere with my education." That's just one example of an aphorism from a new collection of the handy sayings gathered and annotated by author James Geary. Renee Montagne talks to Geary about his book, The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism. The book chronicles many of the form's sharpest and most famous practitioners.

Selected aphorisms featured in The World in a Phrase:

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.