APOPHTHEGM (from the Gr. It rogOey ya)  , a short and pointed utterance . The usual spelling up to Johnson's day was apothegm, which Webster and Worcester still prefer; it indicates the pronunciation—i.e . " apothem "—better than the other, which, however, is more usual in England and follows the derivation . Such sententious remarks as " Knowledge is Power " are apophthegms . They become " proverbs " by age and acceptance . Plutarch made a famous collection in his Apophthegmata Laconica .