# Aphorisms

Curated aphorism collection with CRUD: content-based matching, themed search, thinker...

- Repository: https://github.com/danielmiessler/LifeOS (19669 stars)
- Category: Marketing
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-28
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add danielmiessler/LifeOS --skill Aphorisms -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add danielmiessler/LifeOS --skill Aphorisms -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add danielmiessler/LifeOS --skill Aphorisms -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add danielmiessler/LifeOS --skill Aphorisms -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Curated aphorism collection with CRUD: content-based matching, themed search, thinker research, and usage tracking to avoid repeating quotes. USE WHEN aphorism, quote, find a quote, research thinker, add aphorism, quote for newsletter, what did X say about, quote bank. NOT FOR creative writing, social posts, or the principal's own published words.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Aphorisms

**Contents:** Ideal State · Intent Routing · Data & Config · Database · Taxonomy · Gotchas · Examples

Curated aphorism store with full CRUD. Its main job is a newsletter's recurring quote (an Aphorism of the Week, say): candidate quotes matched to that edition's themes that avoid recently used ones. It also adds quotes, searches the collection, and researches a thinker's quotes. Every intent reads and writes one collection file (§ Database), whose Theme Index and Newsletter Usage History keep quotes findable and fresh.

## Ideal State

- Every quote the skill returns or stores is attributed and verified: a misattributed or unverifiable quote is marked Unknown or Disputed, never asserted.
- Recommendations and search results match the request's themes, tone and query, best first (recommendations with their scores), and recommendations avoid quotes with a recent recorded use.
- Every addition, research batch and newsletter use lands in the database in the entry formats under § Database, with the Theme Index and the usage history updated in the same pass, so the other intents find it immediately.

## Intent Routing

| Intent | Trigger | File |
|----------|---------|------|
| FindAphorism | Find aphorism, quote for newsletter, Aphorism of the Week, match aphorism, suggest quote, aphorism recommendation, "what quote fits this", an opening or closing quote for a newsletter | `Intents/FindAphorism.md` |
| AddAphorism | Add quote, add aphorism, save quote, new aphorism, store quote | `Intents/AddAphorism.md` |
| ResearchThinker | Research thinker, find quotes from, what did X say, thinker quotes on, "find [author] aphorisms", building out a thinker section | `Intents/ResearchThinker.md` |
| SearchAphorisms | Search aphorisms, find quotes on, quotes about, quotes matching, what aphorisms, "show me [keyword] quotes", browsing for inspiration before the newsletter theme is known | `Intents/SearchAphorisms.md` |

The rest: https://github.com/danielmiessler/LifeOS/blob/HEAD/LifeOS/install/skills/Aphorisms/SKILL.md