Write an aphorism using valid code

Question

Can you write an aphorism in at most 4 lines of code ?

Code should read as much as possible as an aphorism in plain English and should return the boolean true.

Language: of choice.

Criteria for accepted answer: Most votes in 180 30 days. (8^th of July 2014)

Originality: can be an old aphorism but a creative one would be much more appreciated.

Answer 1

Python

import this
love = this
this is love, love is not True or False, love is love
# (True, True, True)

Okay, this returns a tuple of Truths, but that itself evaluates as True anyway.

Answer 2

Forth

2 : b or ! 2 ." b" ;
: that s" the questi" on ;

Answer 3

C:

You'll have to squint a bit to read this one :-)

int x(){ int __,L        ;
     return (__ |__ ||__ |__ ,__,__ ,__ ,__ ,__  ,
             __||  1||__ |  1L/L|__||__|1/__|  1L)
                                ;   }

You might notice a potential division-by-zero error on line 3, but this is never executed because the expression evaluates as true before the calculation is performed.

Answer 4

It's difficult to avoid string literals, comments and tricks fo this kind, but I tried to keep them to a mininum. Also, the first line makes no sense. Well, I had fun doing it

F#

(fun () -> (fun (_) -> // fun fun? wtf
try not <| failwith("me") ; (*but*) with |Failure((*co*)me(*s*)) -> true)("learning"))()
// "Try not to fail with me, but with failure comes true learning

I could also do some declaration abusing, but I ended up not finding a way to return true:

let the,bodies,hit_the=floor(0.0),(),()

or

let the_games=bigint() //pun intended

I really need to stop with the puns.

Answer 5

C

No string literals or comments:

Better(to,re);main(silent){and();}be(thought,a,fool){}
than(to,open,your,mouth);and(){}remove(all,doubt);

Split over two lines, but one would work fine as well.

When compiled using gcc on Linux (x86-64), this produces an executable which exits with success (exit code 0), the same as the true Unix utility; this being how I choose to interpret the requirement of returning boolean true in a non-scripting language.

Note: notwithstanding the abuse of the "implicit int" rule, the principal trick behind this program is that while a C program that falls off the end of main without a return statement will usually result in a non zero exit code, by calling another function we can set the EAX register which is then used as the exit code of the program. This is of course totally undefined behaviour and utterly non portable.

Answer 6

Python

war=peace=freedom=slavery=ignorance=strength=0
war is peace|freedom is slavery|ignorance is strength

Power=a=means=it=an=end=0
Power is not (a, means, it is (an, end))

JavaScript

You=true;function BigBrother(){};BigBrother.isWatching=function(y){return y};
BigBrother.isWatching(You)

Answer 7

C#:

short life = 0;
return (life is short);

"Life is short" (Hippocrates)

Answer 8

Ruby

class String
  def before(b) self < b end
end

A bit lengthy, but gets us a few aphorisms:

"age".before("beauty")
"business".before("pleasure")
"pearls".before("swine")

And (stretching slightly):

dont = []; y = 1
dont.count + y or ('chickens'.before('they hatch'))

Answer 9

Scala

Some apply Double forall _; None isEmpty

Answer 10

CoffeeScript

2 * @wrong isnt @right

=> true

Answer 11

C++

bool life = true;
bool fair = false;

assert(life != fair);

Answer 12

Python

love=[True];all,fair,war=love*3
all is fair in love and war

Answer 13

An aphorism about http verbs, in

Ruby

puts do
something idempotent but are considered to be unsafe
because if the value at the beginning of a chain of calls is one possibly the value at the
end != 1

Answer 14

C

if ((ifs && ands) == (pots && pans))
    work_for_tinkers_hands = FALSE;

Answer 15

Javascript

function be(who) {
   if (who == 'thine own self') {
      return true;
   }
}

An approximation of "To thine own self be true."

I'm kind of fudging with the requirements, since it only returns true in one particular case ... but I'm hoping you'll let it slide because the return value is actually part of the aphorism.

Answer 16

I got a wonderful error while attempting this:

It's very much inspired by Darren Stone's answer.

TypeError: Cannot use 'in' operator to search for 'tis nobler' in mind to suffer the The Slings and Arrows of outrageous fortune

Javascript

[2].be || ! [2].be ; this.is, "the question"

It returns an implicit true.

Slightly less terse, with a question mark:

[2].be || ! [2].be? is = this: !"the question"

Answer 17

C

main(int I,char **think) {char *a="there"; for (;--I;) a['m'];}

Answer 18

C

int main(int fear, int* computers){ int

    i; do { !fear; computers[i]; fear; "the lack of them";

} while();return true;}

I do not fear computers, I fear the lack of them.

-Isaac Asimov

Answer 19

A bit lazy, but my take.

Python:

life = short = True; art = long = True; life=art
life is short and art is long

JavaScript:

The = word = 'Yoga'
has = been = 'vulgarized'
and = does = not=  mean = anything =Date.now() ,!''
//Swami Rama 

Answer 20

PHP

$all = array('not well', 'not well', 'not well', 'well'); 
$end = array_pop($all);
$all = ($end == 'well') ? $end : 'not well';
return true;

"All's well that ends well."

Answer 21

Q

any bird:`int$"hehand"=2^`int$"hebush"

and

(./) 2_iscomp:any 3,'s:"a",'"crowd"

Answer 22

PHP

An apple a day...

$aphorism = function(){
    for($day=1;$day<=365;$day++) $apple++;
    return ($apple==365) ? true : 'doctor';
};

Answer 23

Common Lisp

(Do ((as)) ('(I say no)t) as I do)
(time (and 'tide (wait-for 'no-man))) ;requires sbcl

Answer 24

Lua

-- all search is in vain
function search() end
-- only the void is true
function void() return function() return true end, true end
-- and what remains is to
for ever in void() do repeat search("light") until true end
return true

Answer 25

JavaScript

return (Do || !Do) || (there == !try);

return 2 * be || !(2 * be);

Answer 26

R

the_whole <- c(-1,-1)
the_part <- -1
the_whole > sum(the_part,the_part)

-Socrates

Answer 27

Simply-Basic 84

Label 1;a random number between 0 and 1~should be stored in~A
If A is equal to 1 Then Display A End;Stop&Else,Go to label 1
:End; Otherwise destroy quantum transmitters internationally.
Since quantum transmitters are gone, power lost. KA-POW, yes?

Answer 28

Prolog

waste(not).

want(X) :-
    waste(X).

Answer 29

Python

be = that = the = question = 1
2 - be or not 2 - be
that is the & question

Answer 30

Ruby

Not the most elegant solution, but very easy to read

def you_know_meaning(x) true end

!!!("aphorism" != "aphorism" unless you_know_meaning "aphorism")

=> true

Answer 31

JAVA

public static boolean think(){return true;}public static boolean so()
{return true;}public static boolean be(){return true;}static{boolean i=true;
    System.out.println((i==think())?so():i==be());
}

I think so i be --Descartes

Answer 32

C++

int main() {
  int right,might;
  might==right;
}

Might is right.

Answer 33

Haskell

Be original!

do otherwise

It returns True.

Answer 34

Rebol

Rebol []
between: :if thought: expression: true lies: func ['a 'b] [a != b]

between thought and expression [lies a lifetime]

Some explanation

The above code translates to:

if thought and expression [lies word-arg1 word-arg2]

The if statement is true so the lies function is called which returns true as along as the two arguments provided are different.

Answer 35

Perl

sub between (&@) { $_[1] if $_[0]->() } sub lies { $_[0] ne $_[1] }
my ($thought, $expression) = (1,1);

between {$thought and $expression} lies a => 'lifetime';

NB. Above works fine with (or without) strict and warnings pragmas.

Answer 36

Ruby vs Friedrich Nietzsche

=> class Lie
=>   def self.is_a_condition_of?(life);true;end
=> end
=> Lie.is_a_condition_of?("life") # => true

Answer 37

Javascript

get: with(this) 1;

I think this makes sense.

Edit: was notified it didn't return true, well now it does.

Answer 38

Is my use of the literal string true cheating?

This is an AutoHotkey script:

Be("true") to yourself

Be(msg) {
    MsgBox % msg
}

Answer 39

Rebol

love: true 
war:  false

if true? any [love is blind and war is hell] [make love not war]

Answer 40

Not one of my favourite songs, still a great album.

PHP

$_GET['this'] or die(!0);

Reads as: Get this or die! (No!)

Get This
Slipknot
1999

Answer 41

T-SQL

I made several attempts at this challenge before arriving at an answer that expresses truth through the code itself. After a few attempts at turning favorite quotes into pithy code translations, I realized the way to go was to set aside quotation entirely and let the language of choice simply speak the wisdom it is capable of speaking.

Since SQL is verbose, I have chosen to break this 4-line program into more lines for ease of reading without horizontal scrolling. The properly "golfed" version may be found on this SQLFiddle.

DECLARE @mindInTurmoil BIT = 'True'
Samsara: SELECT 'equanimity' AS Attitude, 0 AS Ego INTO #Self
    WHERE @mindInTurmoil = 'True' 
IF (SELECT TOP 1 Attitude FROM #Self ORDER BY Ego) = 'equanimity' 
    SET @mindInTurmoil = 'False' ELSE GOTO Samsara
SELECT CASE @mindInTurmoil 
    WHEN 'True' THEN 'False' WHEN 'False' THEN 'True' END AS Liberation

Returns:

Liberation
----------
True

Answer 42

Java (probably others too)

boolean hasExceptions(Rule rule) { return rule != this; }

"There are always exceptions, except to this rule." - by me.

Answer 43

JavaScript

function healthy_community(diversity){
    return (diversity === true) ? true : false;
}
healthy_community(true);

Answer 44

Groovy

short Short;
short life = Short;
assert life.is(Short);

Answer 45

Java

for (Person person : people) {
    if (!HouseTypeEnum.GLASS_HOUSE.equals(person.getResidence().getHouseType()))
        throw new StonesException();
}

Answer 46

Mathematica

 mo[thing__] := MemberQ[{thing}, money | problems | True]
 mo[money~mo~problems]

Answer 47

Javascript

with = javascript = we = can = create = any = aphorism = returning = true;

Answer 48

C

This quote is a line from My Fair Lady. See here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVmU3iANbgk

#include <stdio.h>
/*the rain */int /*Spain falls*/ main/*ly*/(){return puts("on the plane")>0?1:0;}

Answer 49

TI-BASIC 

2_be or not(2_be)