The Maxim

1) A concise formulation of a fundamental principle or rule of conduct. -- American Heritage Dictionary

2) A form combining the maximum of clarity and truth with the minimum of words arranged in the most striking and memorable order. -- Leonard Tancock

3) The maxim is not a clever condensation of "natural" language. On the contrary, the maxim rejects the essential characteristics of ordinary language: fluidity, an opening statement, a leisurely exposition. The maxim has no rhetoric of introduction or conclusion: it simply is, in its entirety. We grasp at once its beginning and end. The maxim is a statement bracketed between two silences. -- Roland Barthes

4) The maxim does not argue or explain. It concisely states the principle, leaving the reader to supply the arguments and explanations. -- Arthur Chandler

5) Among all the different expressions which can render one's ideas, there is only one which is the right one, the true one. -- La Bruyère