Classic style presents the author’s individual insights and perceptions, so classic style rarely employs the clichéd common wisdom found in proverbs and maxims. The classic writer may, however, re-write a cliché or a maxim in a way that produces new insights.
Here are some examples:
cliché: “pure and simple truth”
Oscar Wilde: “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
maxim: “Seeing is believing.”
Mark Twain: “Believe nothing that you hear, and only half of what you see.”
Ralph Hodgson: “Some things have to be believed to be seen.”
Choose at least four of the following maxims and rewrite them as classic style insights.
| One man’s meat is another man’s poison. | Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. |
| Let sleeping dogs lie. | Better safe than sorry. |
| Time heals all wounds. | Silence is golden. |
| War is hell. | Love is blind. |
| Sometimes, you can’t see the forrest for the trees. | Look before you leap. |
| God helps them who help themselves. | Haste makes waste. |
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