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No Woman is Allergic to Diamonds

by Macabee Dean

99 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0552; ISBN 1-4120-0184-6; US$14.00, C$16.00, EUR11.50, £8.00

Learn the art of making wise cracks, one-liners, wisdoms, proverbs, and quotable quotes. Find out how to come up with quotations that could outlive you.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book The so-called "Intelligentsia" call them "aphorism", but they are much better known as one-liners, wisdoms, proverbs, quotable quotes, and so on. They are a form of creativity far above creative writing; they are a form of "creative thinking". They come natural to most persons whose brains have not been stunted by too much brain-washing called education; they can be learned by anybody willing to tap and develop their dormant thoughts. Composing them can be very "soul" satisfying. Writing them can become a delightful hobby. No matter what you call them, each one offers a penetrating insight into the foibles of the people and society that surround you. If you study one a day, even briefly, you will gain the equivalent of a doctorate in wisdom. Sorry, I retract that statement. I've known too many arrogant Ph.D.'s who were nothing more than learned fools. So I should have said, you will gain the wisdom of that extremely rare entity - a wise person. You may even begin to understand yourself. You may even begin to understand your spouse. It has been done. Some readers might find this book has an anti-feminist tinge. But I am far from being an anti-feminist. Some of my best friends are women. This sentence reveals one of the tricks of writing aphorisms. Simply take a well-known saying and change only one word. The original saying was: Some of my best friends are...

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A journalist by profession, a cynic by nature, American-born Macabee Dean makes his home in Israel. He is the father and grandfather of girls of the same age. The secret: instead of turning in his car for a new model, he turned in his first wife for a new model.

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Sample Excerpts

Refurbishing

Firstly, let us try to refurbish your brain cells by rereading your most successful aphorisms. Inspiration often comes from patting yourself on the back. (It is much more encouraging, of course, if someone you admire does the patting.)

Alternatively, reading great aphorisms written by the masters may restore your inspirational energies. But be careful. Don't let their brilliance intimidate you into silent paralysis. Some have germinated for years both mentally and on paper. They may have run through many versions.

You are only reading the tip of the writer's iceberg. Time has caused his bad ones to gradually fade away. Sometimes the writer may have even judiciously suppressed them.

Thus, never be ashamed of your bad ones. Time will bury them, unless you have a vigorous enemy with a festering grudge. Your problem is to disseminate your good ones and to keep them alive before an appreciative public.

Study the Masters

Don't only read the masters, but also study them.

You have already taken a first stride when you worked for your "doctorate."

Read now not only for content, but also to try to capture and learn the masters personal process of composition. Until you finish reading the following suggestions, put the idea of composing your own original aphorisms on a far back burner. Of course, if an aphorism sneaks slyly, fully polished into your mind, welcome and lasso it.

The great contributors in any field; music, literature, poetry, phi-losophy, math, chess, and so on, might have been born with huge natural gifts, yet they all had to upgrade this talent to genius by studying and absorbing the methods of their predecessor who laid the solid foundations of their art.

So, you must grasp and internalize the basis of any art. These meth-ods, these foundations, are needed since you must gear yourself to the mind of your readers so they can easily absorb your ideas. But don't skim over those you like with a chuckle and/or mental nod of agreement, and shake your head in disapproval at those that irritate you. Analyze them structurally.

Tear them to pieces. Dig deeper into them before accepting any as the pleasant or unpleasant gospel truth. Test each one against your own store of knowledge and experience.

Ask yourself:

• Why do I like (or dislike) this slice of life?
• What gives it its charm?
• What gives it its insight?
• Why do I instinctively recognize it as true?
• Is it really true or just a clever play on words and ideas?
• Is it a short-lived gimmick, a passing fad?
• Do they use enticing words that sidetrack you slightly from
• their meaning?
• What motivated the writer?
• What was his aim?
• What are its consequences and ramifications?
• Why haven't I thought of this myself?
• Are there layers of meaning here, each layer indicating some
• thing else?
• What latent knowledge in my mind has it tapped?
• Are they long-winded or short and forceful?
• Do they contain shifts in thinking? Do they entice your
• thoughts in one direction and then suddenly divert your
• mind in another, surprising direction?

Keep this list of analytic thought joggers in mind, for it will come in handy when you are judging your own brain bastards.

Here is an example of a superficial analysis: Ben Franklin wrote: "There are more old drunkards than old doctors."

Is this really true or just an excuse for tying one on? What other questions can you ask about Good Olde Ben's saying?

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Catalogue Information

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