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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Epigram


According to my Reference Handbook of Grammar & Usage (seen here), an epigram [ep-i-gram] is "a short, pointed, often witty statement of fact or opinion, either in verse or prose.  Such statements are useful for focusing attention on a particular idea, making it easy to remember and to quote."

Here are a few well-known epigrams:

Little strokes
Fell great oaks.
~ Benjamin Franklin
I can resist everything except temptation.
~ Oscar Wilde
What is an Epigram? A dwarfish whole;
Its body brevity, and wit its soul.
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
 It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
To be or not to be, that is the question.
~ Shakespeare

It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction.
Fiction has to make sense.
~ Mark Twain

Do you have some favorite epigrams?  Maybe you'd like to try writing one?  If you do, please share -- I'd love to see them!

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