". . . aphorism are seldom couched in such terms, that they should be
taken as they sound precisely, or according to the widest extent of
signification; but do commonly need exposition, and admit exception:
otherwise frequently they would not only clash with reason and
experience, but interfere, thwart, and supplant one another."
--Issac Barrow

"The very essence of an aphorism is that slight exaggeration which makes
it more biting whilst less rigidly accurate."
--Leslie Stephen




I. On Girls

"A Pearl, A Girl."
-Browning


There are of course, girls and girls; yet at heart they are pretty much
alike. In age, naturally, they differ wildly. But this is a thorny
subject. Suffice it to say that all men love all girls-the maid of
sweet sixteen equally with the maid of untold age.

* * *

There is something exasperatingly something-or-otherish about girls. And
they know it--which makes them more something-or-otherish still:--there
is no other word for it.