Saturday, August 4, 2012

Quote of the Day: Aristotle On The Use of Maxims

"Further, maxims are of great assistance to speakers, first, because of the vulgarity of the hearers, who are pleased if an orator, speaking generally, hits upon the opinions which they specially hold. What I mean will be clear from the following, and also how one should hunt for maxims. The maxim, as we have said, is a statement of the general; accordingly, the hearers are pleased to hear stated in general terms the opinion which they have already specially formed. For instance, a man who happened to have bad neighbors or children would welcome any one's statement that nothing is more troublesome than neighbors or more stupid than to beget children."

— Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book II, Chapter 21

1 comment:

  1. Great quote -- I will use it in a post (someday). Thank you!!

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