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.

Dr. Johnson would have laboured this short apophthegm into a voluminous common-place.

From Lectures on the English Poets Delivered at the Surrey Institution by Waller, Alfred Rayney

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

Men defended themselves in a short brilliant expression; and if that did not protect them, they died with a lively apophthegm, and their last words were wit.

From A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, Or The Causes Of Corrupt Eloquence The Works Of Cornelius Tacitus, Volume 8 (of 8); With An Essay On His Life And Genius, Notes, Supplements by Tacitus, Cornelius

But after nigh six months of palpitating negotiations with the adorable Mrs. Glamorys, the poet, in a moment of dejection, penned the prose apophthegm, "It is of no use trying to change a changeable person."

From The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes by Zangwill, Israel

On literary réclame, he says much that is true—if not the whole truth, in the apophthegm for instance, 'You have to become famous before you can secure the attention which would give fame.'

From The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories by Gissing, George