Everything is trite; nothing is new.  Such is the expression of opinion I have heard in regard to all written and spoken thought - barring science. Who told that to me? Was it Miss Beuret? Have I heard it or read it from some other source? Never mind, the opinion probably is true

Brown, Alfred

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TRITEALFRED BROWN"Everything is trite; nothing is new."Such is the expression of opinion I haveheard in regard to all written and spokenthought - barring science. Who told thatto me? Was it Miss Beuret? Have I heardit or read it from some other source? Nevermind, the opinion probably is true.From the dawn of civilization - atrite phrase - there have been countlessthousands - another trite phrase - ofwonderers who have been more curiousthan I am, and who have delved deeperinto philosophical thought than I do.For instance, take the very fewphilosophers with whom I am at allacquainted: Plato, Voltaire, J. S. Mill,Hazlitt, Newman, Thoreau, Emerson, Bert-rand Russell - I can't recall any morewithout fudging and going to an encyclo-pedia. To me, all these men seem eminent- there's a good word, but trite - thinkers.They have thought and written on a mul-titude of SUbjects. Some of them I havenot understood, with others I have notagreed. The point is this: all my philoso-phical thought - if any - has been alonglines already traversed by these eminentthinkers, with several of whom I haveagreed; and they have said it much betterthan I.My first attempt tonight was upon amost vital subject - a most vital subject;where have you heard that before? - thesubject of God. I was very serious in myattempt, but by the time I had spent thirtyminutes writing nine lines, I realized twothings; first, that I had not read enough andthought enough to treat the subject fairly,and second, that there has been a great dealof literature published on the subject andthat this literature was much more pro-found and learned than anything I couldcompose. Thus I would not only be trite,but also I would make a fool of myselfwith my beggarly attempt.My second effort was along similarlines to my first, and it fared me no better.The subject was Religion. I marshaled afew choice gems of cogitation such asthese two: (1) The bill of rights in ourConstitution guarantees freedom to worshipas we please. Thus our individual religionor lack thereof depends upon our discre-tion and our conscience. (2) There aresome persons who do not attend churchwho are in reality more religious than somewho do attend church and give only lip-service.When I noted that these ideas were notonly trite themselves, but also were com-posed of trite expressions, I gave up andhere I am.I have used the word so often, perhapsI should refer to the dictionary to see whatit means. Trite - "Used until so commonas to have lost novelty and interest;hackneyed; stale." From this definition itfollows that I should not have used theword "trite" in connection with the sub-ject of God, Religion, or any of the othersubjects treated by the philosophers. Forthese subjects never become stale andhackneyed because of their very nature.They are timeless and timely. In otherwords, I should not have used "trite" inmy first statement.Then it is not my choice of subject-matter which is at fault, but my mood andmy shallow choice of words. A person whohas only a shallow vocabulary can thinkneither deeply nor well.-19-

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