|
Updated March 20, 2017
Definition
A maxim is a compact
expression of a general truth or rule of conduct. Also known as a proverb, saying, adage,
sententia, and precept.
Etymology
From the Latin, "greatest"
Examples
and Observations
- Never trust a man who says, "Trust me."
- You're either part of the solution or part of the
problem.
- "Nothing ever goes away."
(Barry Commoner, American ecologist)
- Sherlock Holmes:
Would you stand up?
Dr. John Watson: Whatever for?
Sherlock Holmes: It is an old maxim of mine that when you
have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must
be the truth. Therefore, you are sitting on my pipe.
(John Neville and Donald Houston in A Study in Terror, 1965)
- "Think sideways!"
(Edward De Bono, The Use of Lateral Thinking, 1967)
- "Start with a phenomenon that nearly everyone both
accepts and considers well understood--'hot hands' in basketball. Now and
then, someone just gets hot, and can't be stopped. Basket after basket
falls in--or out as with 'cold hands,' when a man can't buy a bucket for
love or money (choose your cliché). The reason for this
phenomenon is clear enough; it lies embodied in the maxim: 'When
you're hot, you're hot; and when you're not, you're not.' . . .
"Everybody knows about hot hands. The only problem is that no such
phenomenon exists."
(Stephen Jay Gould, "The Streak of Streaks,"
1988)
- "Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no
less wise, to balance it."
(George Santayna)
- Maxims as Tools of Argument in Classical Rhetoric
- "In the Rhetoric, Book II, Chapter 21, Aristotle treated maxims
as a prelude to his discussion of the enthymeme, because, as he observed,
maxims often constitute one of the premises of a syllogistic argument. For instance, in an argument
about financial matters, one can imagine a disputant saying, 'A fool and
his money are soon parted.' The full argument suggested by this proverb
would run something like this:
A fool and his
money are soon parted.
John Smith is undeniably a fool when it comes to money matters.
John Smith is sure to lose out on his investment.
The value of
maxims, according to Aristotle, is that they invest a discourse with 'moral character,' with that
ethical appeal so important in persuading others. Because maxims touch
upon universal truths about life, they win ready assent from the audience."
(Edward P.J. Corbett and Robert J. Connors, Classical Rhetoric for the
Modern Student. Oxford University Press, 1999)
- "The orator, says [Giambattista] Vico,
“speaks in maxims.” But he must produce these maxims offhandedly; as
practical matters always require immediate solutions, he does not have the time
of the dialectician. He must be able to quickly think in enthymemic terms."
(Catalina Gonzalez, "Vico's Institutiones Oratoriae." Rhetorical
Agendas, ed. by Patricia Bizzell. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006)
"Too many cooks spoil the broth"
- "'Too many cooks spoil the broth'--so goes a proverb that is as
familiar to most Americans as its meaning. The Iranians expressed the same
thought with different words: 'Two midwives will deliver a baby with a crooked
head.' So do the Italians: 'With so many roosters crowing, the sun never comes
up.' The Russians: 'With seven nurses, the child goes blind.' And the Japanese:
'Too many boatmen run the boat up to the top of the mountain.'"
("Language: The Wild Flower of Thought." Time, March 14, 1969)
- "Having passed through several different studios over its 15-year
development, sci-fi comedy Duke Nukem Forever sets a new precedent for
how too many cooks really can get busy with the spoilage."
(Stuart Richardson, "Duke Nukem Forever--Review." The Guardian,
June 17, 2011) |
No comments:
Post a Comment