The Accidental Aphorist is comprised of hundreds of reflections and aphorisms, maxims, pensees, fulminations and regrets, amusements, which have been gleaned from almost forty years of the author's notebooks. The far-ranging themes include the writing life, creativity, love, death, travel, art, soul, mythology and legend, movies, politics, mentorship, and sports. These coruscating passages are the sparks and threads that have led Phil Cousineau to write over 40 books, more than 25 documentary scripts, two dozen televsion scripts, and have inspired hundreds of his popular writing workshops and retreats.

Writing with the same admixture of philosophical inquiry, aesthetic curiosity, wacky word-play, quick-witted word portrait, and irreverent humor that is threaded through all of his work, Phil Cousineau has created a modern chrestomathy that reflects his dual passion for learning and teaching. The Accidental Aphorist: A Curiosity Cabinet of Aphorisms, Maxims, Epigrams, Pochades and Pensées, Gnomic Sayings, Laconics, Notebook Jottings, Back Thoughts, and Afterthoughts, is meant to stoke and provoke, jolt and cajole the idling imagination.