Here is a little book in the grand tradition of aphorism - subversive, biting, cheerful. The classic topics come alive again on these crisp pages: pride, happiness, divinity, death, love, friendship, art, politics. Honed to a razor edge, each short thought slices through convention, as the author invites the reader to ponder the folly of the human race -perhaps its most attractive characteristic.

A sampling

• #8: The summit of style is to kill with a word.
• #371: Flattery is the only reliable tyrannicide.
• #225: In health, the body obeys the will; in sickness, the will obeys the body.
• #342: Without law, power cannot sleep.
• #395: Under a tyrant at least no one believes the newspapers.
• #157: The unhappy see themselves through the eyes of the bad, the happy through the eyes of the good.
• #332: Optimists go to war; pessimists make and keep the peace.
• #349: To speak for one's nation is to fancy oneself a king.
• #243: To love others, we must first understand how they resemble us, because we have no other measure of esteem.
• #425: Good poetry says half of what it means; bad poetry means half of what it says.
• #209: Without moderation, self-denial is self-indulgence.
• #120: God's punishment of human folly is NOT to send a plague.
• #409: The notion of art for the sake of art is too close to the notion of life for the sake of life.
• #450: Historians are hopelessly prejudiced in favour of historical significance.
• #440: We enjoy talking about ourselves chiefly because it requires no effort.