James Geary

A simile is just a metaphor with the scaffolding still up.

— James Geary

You only really discover the strength of your spine when your back is against the wall.

— James Geary

“Why must an aphorism be brief? Because only a fool gives a speech in a burning house.”

— James Geary

In the margin for error lies all our room for maneuver.

— James Geary

There is no aspect of our experience not molded in some way by metaphor's almost imperceptible touch.

— James Geary

“For life is short and the art of writing books is very, very long.”

— James Geary

Metaphor lives a secret life all around us. We utter about six metaphors a minute.

— James Geary

Heroism often results as a response to extreme events.

— James Geary

Metaphor impinges on everything, allowing us - poets and non-poets alike - to experience and think about the world in fluid, unusual…

— James Geary

Metaphor lives a secret life all around us. We utter about six metaphors a minute. Metaphorical thinking is essential to how we…

— James Geary

I believe aphorisms are best when first read in the wild, free from the confines of any categories.

— James Geary

Aphorisms are literature's hand luggage. Light and compact, they fit easily into the overhead compartment of your brain.

— James Geary

Sometimes, you need a door slammed in your face before you can hear opportunity knock.

— James Geary

Advice is given freely because so much of it is worthless.

— James Geary

London always reminds me of a brain. It is similarly convoluted and circuitous. A lot of cities, especially American ones like New…

— James Geary

Metaphor matters because it creates expectations.

— James Geary

Aphorisms are food for thought - like sushi, they come in small portions that are both delicious and exquisitely formed. And, like…

— James Geary

Metaphor is not just the detection of patterns; it is the creation of patterns.

— James Geary

Metaphors hide in plain sight, and their influence is largely unconscious. We should mind our metaphors, though, because metaphors make up our…

— James Geary

Metaphor creates a kind of conceptual synesthesia, in which we understand one concept in the context of another.

— James Geary

The mind revels in conjecture. Where information is lacking, it will gladly fill in the gaps.

— James Geary

By bringing together what we know and what we don't know through analogy, metaphorical thinking strikes the spark that ignites discovery,

— James Geary