An epigram is the
An epigram is the marriage of wit and wisdom; a wisecrack, their divorce. Evan Esar
Epigrams
My poetry is not
My poetry is not lyric. The epigrams are lyric because they come from my youthful period of lyricism, but my other poetry is not lyric. Ernesto Cardenal
Fight fire with fire.
Fight fire with fire. If you must have bores, always put them together or at the same table … bores have an effervescent chemical reaction on one another at a party. They invariably have a marvelous time trading banalities in the absence of competition. Clichés roll trippingly off the tongue like sparkling epigrams and trite … Read more
It is better to
It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. Eleanor Roosevelt
Heroism is no extempore
Heroism is no extempore work of transient impulse–a rocket rushing fretfully up to disturb the darkness by which, after a moment’s insulting radiance, it is ruthlessly swallowed up,–but a steady fire, which darts forth tongues of flame. It is no sparkling epigram of action, but a luminous epic of character. Edwin Percy Whipple
An epigram often flashes
An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly. Edwin Percy Whipple
The wise men of
The wise men of old have sent most of their morality down the stream of time in the light skiff of apothegm or epigram; and the proverbs of nations, which embody the commonsense of nations, have the brisk concussion of the most sparkling wit. Edwin Percy Whipple
The qualities all in
The qualities all in a bee that we meet, In an epigram never should fail; The body should always be little and sweet, And a sting should be felt in its tail. Edward Young
Some learned writers .
Some learned writers . . . have compared a Scorpion to an Epigram . . . because as the sting of the Scorpion lyeth in the tayl, so the force and virtue of an epigram is in the conclusion. Edward Topsell
There are expressions and
There are expressions and bulls-eyes of the spirit, there are epigrams, a little handful of words, in which a whole culture, a whole society is suddenly crystallized. Friedrich Nietzsche