Difference Between Proverb and Aphorism

July 2022 · 5 minute read

Learning proverbs and aphorisms are good for knowledge. It gives a good understanding of life. Based on those morals and principles, people can learn a lot. Starting with one proverb per day would be sufficient. Many schools are teaching their students at least one proverb a day. This helps the students to learn them at a slow pace with good understanding. 

Proverb vs Aphorism

The main difference between Proverb and Aphorism is that proverbs will give practical and useful advice about the incidents that happen in daily life. Aphorism is good at elegantly expressing the truth. Learning proverbs help to represent the cultural heritage. Whereas learning aphorism will express the truth more memorably. 

A proverb is a short sentence or saying that is often quoted by people. Sometimes, proverbs will give you meaning about life. There are many proverbs available. People can even write their own proverbs if they have good creative writing and thinking skills. But they should make sure that it is short and crisp and should not exceed more than one or two sentences. 

Aphorism is a memorable expression that has a general truth or principle. While including aphorisms in your project or somewhere else, you should never forget to cite the resources. For using aphorism in a quoted passage, you should often use it from starting with a quoted passage. They are also used in motivational speeches. It will increase the understanding and relatability of the audience. 

Comparison Table Between Proverb and Aphorism

Parameters of ComparisonProverbAphorism
DefinitionIt gives practical and useful advice about daily life.It expresses truth in an elegant manner.
Derived fromLatin rootGreek word
Invented in14th century1528
Created byProverbs of SolomonHippocrates
AdvantagesIt represents the national cultural heritage.The truth will be expressed in a memorable way.

What is Proverb?

It is a short saying that states the general truth or advice. They use formulaic language, and they are often metaphoric. They form a genre of folklore collectively. For creating your own proverbs, you should brainstorm about some worries or problems. These should be the problems that you were able to overcome in life. Then, you should pick any one of the problems and start writing it as a lesson. While writing the lesson, you should thoroughly divide it so that you can find which is the starting and the ending of the story.

When you write the proverb, you should give some colorful language for illustrating its meaning. Proverbs are used for teaching and educating the audience. Proverbs often have expert advice in them. They have a role that educates the readers about what will happen in life if they don’t follow the rules. Therefore, they play a didactic role. In schools, they will teach at least one new proverb to children.

This will help the children to learn proverbs faster, and they can also get the meaning behind them. There are also some 20 proverbs available, especially for children. Proverbs are sometimes written as a story. The famous story is about a crow who tries to drink water from a pot. This is one of the common stories which is narrated to children so that they can understand the meaning of life. 

What is Aphorism?

It is a pithy observation that has a general truth. It is a brief saying which will express an opinion or a statement. It doesn’t have a flowery language of a proverb. According to English literature, it is a short saying which expresses the truth in a quippy and memorable way. They can be used in both speech and writing. They are universally accepted as bearing truths. They also use humor to convey meaning. But these senses of humor can vary from being serious to silly.

The authors also use an aphorism so that they can concisely and cleverly express observations. It can also express philosophical ideas to readers. These are short phrases that will evoke big ideas in readers. This is one of the main reasons why authors use them while writing stories. People who want to write aphorism should come up with a new and thought-provoking idea. But these are very difficult to come up with on your own.

They should also make a complicated point within a short span of time. For writing aphorisms, a good metaphor is invaluable. Aphorisms can be easily remembered because they are short. They have striking metaphors which give them more staying power. Some of the best aphorisms will apply to different sorts of situations in life, which will add a memorable quality. It is a brief statement that will be expressed in a single sentence.

Main Differences Between Proverb and Aphorism

  • The definition of a proverb is that it will give both practical and useful advice about daily life. On the other hand, the definition of the aphorism is that it elegantly expresses the truth.
  • The word proverb is derived from a Latin root. On the other hand, the word aphorism is derived from a Greek word.
  • Proverbs were first invented in the 14th century. On the other hand, aphorisms were first invented in 1528.
  • Proverbs were first created by Proverbs of Solomon. On the other hand, aphorisms were first created by Hippocrates. 
  • The advantage of learning proverbs is that it helps to represent the cultural heritage. On the other hand, the advantage of the aphorism is that the truth will be expressed memorably. 
  • Conclusion

    Both proverbs and aphorisms give great meaning to life. There are almost 800 proverbs available. Even people can make their own proverb and aphorism if they have a good story and moral. But it is not that easy. They should be creative in whatever language they choose. So, that it will attract more people and the knowledge can be spread to others.

    Sometimes aphorisms are also shared by authors in their book. Since they are short and small, it will help the readers to understand them along with the story. Even they use that to explain the story. Also, they will acknowledge the person so that people will learn about the person behind that aphorism. They can also read more aphorisms from that person if they have written many. 

    References

  • https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/030908920402900202
  • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304422X99000030
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