The central assumption of the aphorist is that the concerns of literature are few and abstract, rather than many and specific. In this way, he differs fundamentally from the journalist, who must present many details, but few general observations. Equally importantly, the aphorist believes in concision and exactitude; he believes that, by returning to the same themes again and again, we will each time see more in them than we previously did. With each iteration, we come closer to what is essential and remove more of the incidental.