Sunday, January 9, 2011

Of Smells and Bells



 "A cloud of incense is worth a thousand sermons"
 ---#2,551 of Don Colacho’s Aphorisms.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2011 at 1:11 AM

    Thanks for posting this--I had never heard of "Don Colacho," but I've enjoyed looking through the Aphorisms. Some nice, subtle truths there!

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  2. NickJanuary 11, 2011 at 2:34 PM

    Indeed I'm glad you highlighted "Don Colacho." As you say Tom, some subtle truths and with most poignant expression.

    Is there not something strangely persuasive about a well-written aphorism, even if you disagree? Odd that there should be, since strictly speaking they are not arguments, but it often seems so.

    Two of Nietzsche's come to mind:

    1) "The worst readers are those who proceed like plundering soldiers: they pick up a few things they can use, soil and confuse the rest, and blaspheme the whole"

    You certainly can't do that to an aphorism!

    2) "A good aphorism is too hard for the tooth of time and is not consumed by all millennia, although it serves every time for nourishment: thus it is the great paradox of literature, the intransitory amid the changing, the food that always remains esteemed, like salt, never loses its savor, as even that does."

    I certainly think "Don Colacho" would appreciate that one.

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  3. TyrellJanuary 11, 2011 at 9:24 PM

    I've ordered a German book on Don Colacho. The Germans seem quite taken with him. I was quite pleased to discover that Martin Mosebach is a fan of Davila. Mosebach gave a lecture on the Tridentine Mass that I attended. And I read his book, The Heresy of Formlessness. It's not too surprising that he should find so much to admire in Davila.

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