The goal of this mesmerizing time lapse video entitled City Limits is “to show the duality between city and nature.” The results are poetic.
Wathcing this film I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Antonio Porchia.
If you do not raise your eyes you will think that you are the highest point. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
From Wikipedia:
Antonio Porchia (November 13, 1885 – November 9, 1968) was an Argentinian poet. He was born in Conflenti (Italy) but, after the death of his father in 1900, moved to Argentina. He wrote a Spanish book entitled Voces (“Voices”), a book of aphorisms. It has since been translated into Italian and into English (by W.S. Merwin, Copper Canyon Press, 2003), French, and German. A very influential, yet extremely succinct writer, he has been a cult author for a number of renowned figures of contemporary literature and thought such as André Breton, Jorge Luis Borges, Roberto Juarroz and Henry Miller, amongst others. Some critics have paralleled his work to Japanese Haiku and found many similarities with a number of Zen schools of thought.
And finally a story from Antonio Porchia.com:
[...] three burglars broke into Porchia’s house; somewhat frightened, Porchia told them, “Friends, I have no money, but there are books and paintings, take whatever you want and leave, please.” Porchia then began to talk with one of the burglars, while the other two took note of the dedications that were on the paintings hanging on the walls. “To the poet…,” “To the philosopher….” Eventually Porchia asked them all to have some wine, cheese and salami. After two hours, the burglars got up and said: “We can’t rob a philosopher.” Before heading out, one of them asked Porchia: “Do you like figs?” Porchia nodded. A week later there was a knock at the door; Porchia opened up and found the burglar, carrying a plate full of figs covered with green leaves. Even after that incident, Porchia still never locked his front door.
Aphorisms are fun to write, but funny when not right. Let your little monkeys try their hand at creating a few new ones. Either serious or absurd. Post them in the comments for all or us to enjoy!
This is a lovely post Phaen. I’m going to find out about Porchio ~ where do you recommend I start?
It isn’t an aphorism, but a witty piece of expression by Wodehouse: “I once got engaged to his daughter Honoria, a ghastly dynamic exhibit who read Nietzsche and had a laugh like waves breaking on a stern and rockbound coast”