It was customary with religious men in former times, to make a rule of
taking every morning some text, or aphorism,[27] for their occasional
meditation during the day, and thus to fill up the intervals of their
attention to business. I do not point it out for imitation, as knowing
too well, how apt these self-imposed rules are to degenerate into
superstition or hollowness; otherwise I would have recommended the
following as the first exercise.
[27] In accordance with a preceding remark, on the use of etymology in
disciplining the youthful mind to thoughtful habits, and as consistent
with the title of this work, 'Aids to Reflection,' I shall offer no
apology for the following and similar notes:
_Aphorism_, determinate position, from the Greek, _ap_, from; and
_horizein_, to bound or limit; whence our horizon.--In order to get
the full sense of a word, we should first present to our minds the
visual image that forms its primary meaning. Draw lines of different
colours round the different counties of England, and then cut out each
separately, as in the common play-maps that children take to pieces
and put together--so that each district can be contemplated apart from
the rest, as a whole in itself. This twofold act of circumscribing,
and detaching, when it is exerted by the mind on subjects of
reflection and reason, is to _aphorize_, and the result an _aphorism_.