apophthegm

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Between a maxim, an aphorism, and an apophthegm, and in a more obvious degree, between these and an adage and a proverb, the etymologist and the lexicographer may easily find a distinction.

From Maxims and Reflections by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von

The middle row, the first to be inscribed, deals with the Epicurean theory of atoms—not by apophthegm or aphorism, but with something of the fulness and technicality of a treatise.

From The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire by Glover, T. R. (Terrot Reaveley)

That this apophthegm of Macintosh should have been quoted and requoted as it has, shows how profound has been the ignorance of social science.

From Essays: Scientific, Political, & Speculative, Vol. I by Spencer, Herbert

The lump of earth, being taken somewhat by surprise, was not prepared with an apophthegm, and said nothing.

From Cobwebs from an Empty Skull by Bierce, Ambrose

La Rochefoucauld, expressing a commonplace with the penetrative terseness that made him a master of the apophthegm, pronounced it "not to be enough to have great qualities: a man must have the economy of them."

From Diderot and the Encyclopædists (Vol 1 of 2) by Morley, John