Fairy Tale Aphorisms

Aphorism: –noun
a terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation, as “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton).

Origin:
1520–30; F aphorisme < LL aphorismus < Gk aphorismós definition, equiv. to aphor[ízein) to define [see aphorize ) + -ismos -ism

There exists a tradition of reducing well‐known tales to short aphorisms of a few lines, in addition to the number of literary adaptations of fairy tales in the form of prose works, poems and plays. These aphorisms are connected to Fairy Tales in general or to specific tales/folklores and their individual motifs. These connections can be found not only among the aphorisms of highly acclaimed authors but also among anonymous one liners of modern graffitis. They represent remnants of the original fairy tales and can be categorised into fairy Tale Aphorisms, which for the most part question the traditional nature of the traditional versions. Most often than not, power, crime, violence, selfishness, greed, materialism, sex and hedonism are the subjects of these aphorisms.

Frog King:
- You have to kiss a lot of toads (frogs), before you meet your handsome prince.
- Better one night with a prince than a whole life with a frog.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
- Better once with Snow White than seven times with the dwarfs.
- Did you know that Snow White had no rest on any day of the week?
- I used to be Snow White … but I drifted
- Seven hills don't make a mountain and seven dwarfs don't make a prince.

Cinderella:
- I'm not Cinderella. I can't force my foot into the glass slipper.
- Better blood in the shoe than a prince around the neck.
- When I was nine I played the demon king in Cinderella and it launched me on a long and happy life of being a monster.
- There is no Cinderella, and I'm not her Prince.

Little Red Riding Hood:
- All good things come in threes, said the wolf and took the huntsman as his dessert.

Emperor's New Clothes:
- It is not always a question of the Emperor having no clothes on. Sometimes it is, "Is that an Emperor at all?" (Idries Shah)
- I keep the dreams and the illusion. You keep the tinderbox and the emperor's new clothes.
- He is only telling the truths that should be plain and obvious to everyone. And yet, the whole world conspires to deny them.

Ugly Duckling:
- Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. (Oscar Wilde)
- The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. (Marcel Proust)
- She showed me to the mirror with a flourish as if I were the ugly duckling about to see myself as the swan.

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Will update as and when I find more.