For lovers of words and seekers of wisdom, a lively history of aphorisms - the shortest and oldest written art form - and the intriguing people who have penned them, from the Buddha to Emily Dickinson. Starting with the ancient Chinese and ending with contemporary Europeans and Americans, "The World in a Phrase" tells the story of the aphorism through spirited and amusing biographies of some of its greatest practitioners: Americans like Ambrose Bierce, Emily Dickinson, and Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker; great French aphorists like Montaigne, La Rochefoucauld, and Chamfort; philosophers like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein; as well as prophets and sages like the Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Jesus. Though it`s an ancient art form, the aphorism is as spritely and as apposite as ever. Challenging and subversive, aphorisms deliver the short, sharp shocks of old forgotten truths. They are literature`s hand luggage: they`re light and compact, you can take them anywhere, and they contain everything you need to get through a rough day at the office or a dark night of the soul. But more than just a literary history, "The World in a Phrase" is a personal memoir of how aphorisms changed Geary`s life - and how, if not for an aphorism by Auden, he might never have met his wife. In our modern age of drive-through culture, pre-digested soundbites, and manufactured sentiment, "The World in a Phrase" explores how aphorisms still retain the power to instigate and inspire, enlighten and enrage, entertain and edify.