“Adults think with their mouths open”: five modern aphorisms that help us understand the year 2025 | books

WWhen it comes to aphorisms, the biggest hits are familiar: “A penny saved is a penny earned,” “A picture is worth 1,000 words,” the ones about why teaching fishing is better than donating fish. These phrases have been around so long that they seem as old as language itself.

But proverbs are not just historical artifacts. People regularly come up with new ideas, and even if they don’t come from the pen of Confucius or Emily Dickinson, they can shed light on the conversation. A human experience in just a few words. Indeed, “this aphorism is, in some ways, well-suited to the digital age: the oldest form of literature finds its perfect medium in the newest short-form communication,” writes James Geary in The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism.

Jerry calls himself an “adage junkie.” The author has been fascinated by these nuggets of wisdom since he was eight years old reading the Quotes section of Reader’s Digest. “I loved the puns, the ironies, and the clever turns of phrase,” Jerry writes. “I was amazed how such a compact statement could contain so much significance.” “These were words I had to live by, and when I was about 13, I started collecting them.”

Jerry says they continue to guide him through adulthood. When he was laid off from his journalism job years ago amid media downsizing, he panicked. But within minutes of receiving the bad news, he thought of this line from the Swedish poet and essayist Wilhelm Ekelund: “It is a good thing to be placed on treacherous ground, for we learn to stand on our feet only when the ground beneath us shakes.” Like any old saying, it didn’t solve his problem – “but it gives you the kind of space and confidence and confirmation to work it out on your own. So I use it every day.”

The best-selling book, which was published in its second edition this month, contains part of Gehry’s collection, from the ancient world to today, along with explanations of the history and significance of each phrase. While the classics still serve their purpose, modern proverbs help guide us through the endless digital, cultural, and political turmoil that is life in 2025. Here are some recent examples that might be useful in 2025:

“I shop, therefore I am.”‘

The phrase is the work of New Jersey artist Barbara Kruger, born in 1945. Kruger, a former graphic designer for women’s magazines, often places bold words on black-and-white images, using “the language and form of advertising for the purposes of an aphorism,” Gehry says. “Her aphorisms appear on billboards and look like advertisements, but they are advertisements for critical thinking.”

The phrase “I Shop, Therefore I Am” appeared on an image of a business card held in someone’s hand, in various iterations starting in 1987.

This work of art, a play on philosopher René Descartes’ phrase “I think, therefore I am,” may be decades old, but it seems even more relevant today. “With today’s attention economy and social media dynamics, how do I know I exist? Because I just bought something,” says Jerry.

“Adults think with their mouths open.”

In the liner notes for Talking Heads’ 1984 album Stop Make Sense, David Byrne wrote a list of aphorisms including “Everything on stage should be bigger than it is in real life” and “There’s always something on the TV”. Gehry points out that the phrase “adults think with their mouths open” lends itself to two interpretations: it conjures up the image of someone puzzling something over in their head with their mouth open, but it also suggests that people tend to speak before they think — again of particular relevance in the age of social media.

Jerry recalls that David Letterman once asked the band leader if his words meant anything; “Not if you try to find out,” Byrne replied. However, aphorisms like these are the opposite—they require careful thought, and “when you do that, you access these secondary and tertiary meanings that make that single sentence so rich,” says Gehry.

“Ignorance, allied with power, is the most formidable enemy that justice can have‘

Writer James Baldwin made this assertion in his book No Name in the Street, published in 1972 – so it may be an exaggeration to call it modern. But it seems as relevant as ever. “All around the world, expertise and knowledge are under attack, facts are under attack, and journalism is under attack,” says Jerry. “There is a really worrying and dangerous resurgence of people and leaders who don’t want to know inconvenient truths.”

This phrase is typical of Baldwin’s nonfiction writings. “There are these beautiful, fierce sentences that just explode out of the essay,” says Jerry. “Whenever I read anything, I look for that kind of moment.”

‘The problem with setting goals is that you are constantly working to achieve what you wanted‘

It’s a disturbing idea – one whose accuracy is undeniable, but which also undermines conventional wisdom about the importance of setting goals. However, in Gehry’s reading, author Sarah Manguso’s observation is more cultural criticism than solid life advice. He argues that this line from her 2017 book of aphorisms, 300 Arguments, is a critique of our obsession with achievement — “this kind of relentless pursuit of the next thing when you might not even want the next thing. You might be happy where you are.”

“Life is an abyss into which we deliberately and joyfully push ourselves‘

This tip comes from an animated character at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, on display until next year. The 7-foot-tall Fortuna is part of Kara Walker’s Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine), an installation featuring a collection of automatic machines made from obsidian. Fortuna herself points to her mouth and offers visitors printed fortunes, including this one, which suggests an enthusiastic embrace of uncertainty, or a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness. For Jerry, it’s about the creative process. “Whether you’re writing, drawing, making music or sewing, you’re always starting from scratch,” he says. “You always start from staring into this abyss.” But, he says, “Once you get into the flow of it, it’s more fun.”

“Don’t confuse movement with progress, or calm with failure‘

Well, those words of wisdom don’t actually appear in Jerry’s book. Instead, it was created by a moderator known as ChatGPT, when I asked him to come up with a saying. It seems like decent advice: whether you’re an activist or an artist, just because things are changing doesn’t mean they’re getting better, and just because things seem static doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong track.

Jerry agrees that it’s solid, and much better than the slightly wonky adage ChatGPT told him: “In the fabric of life, metaphors weave the cloak of truth, hiding wisdom within the folds of everyday moments.” Whether the show’s advice is good or bad, Jerry doesn’t see it as a threat to human wisdom, which will always be unique to the individual. His biggest concern is relying on artificial intelligence to generate ideas and shape our language It removes the challenge of writing, and therefore the fundamental challenge of thinking. A big language model could do the work for you, but “that defeats the whole purpose of having a mind, being an individual and living your own life,” he says. “Let ChatGPT write proverbs too – great. I don’t mind. But let’s keep writing proverbs ourselves.”