SOME EPIGRAMS
An epigram is defined as a short
poem or phrase that express an idea in a clever or amusing way.
It is a literary device.
According to another definition: An
epigram is “ a brief, clever, and witty statement that expresses a single idea
in a surprising or satirical way. Often featuring irony or paradox, these
memorable quotes are designed to make the reader stop and think.”
Look at the following epigrammatic statements.
1.
To
err is human, to forgive, divine.----Alexander
Pope
2.
Brevity
is the soul of wit. ---William
Shakespeare
3.
It
is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.---Eleanor
Roosevelt
4.
A
church membership does not make a Christian any more than owning a piano makes
a musician.----Douglas Meador
5.
A
short poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as
an example of epigram:
Sir, I admit your general rule,
That every poet is a fool,
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.
Among epigram writers in English literature, the name of
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is at the top.
He has to his credit a whole book of epigrams comprising about 250 pages. What
follows is a short collection of his epigrams on various subjects.
(i)
I can resist everything but temptation.
(ii)
Men become old, but they never become good.
(iii)
When
a man acts he is a puppet. When he describes he is a poet.
(iv)
The
only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her, if she is pretty, and to
some one else, if she is plain.
(v)
Nowadays people know the price of
everything and the value of nothing.
(vi)
The
true artist is a man who believes absolutely in himself because he is
absolutely himself.
(vii)
To
live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
(viii)
Misfortunes
one can endure ---they come from outside, they are accidents, but to suffer for
one’s own faults ----ah! ---there is the sting of life.
(ix)
Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
(x)
The world is a stage, but the play is
badly cast.
(xi)
A mother’s love is very touching, of
course, but is often curiously selfish.
(xii)
No
man should have a secret from his wife ---she invariably finds it out.
(xiii)
There
is so much else to do in the world but love.
(xiv)
I
don’t like principles….I prefer prejudices.
(xv)
A
mask tells us more than a face.
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PUNCHLINE: Zeal is fit only for wise men but is
found mostly in fools.----Ancient Proverb
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G. R. Kanwal
1st July 2026
