Epigram Examples

An epigram is a brief, witty statement about a topic. It is often satirical (containing verbal irony) and memorable for the surprising way in which it addresses a subject. Epigrams are sometimes used in poetry, as well as in everyday speech.

The definition of epigram is very broad, and one person might see something as an epigram when another does not consider it to be.

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind." JFK

"Little strokes fell great oaks." Benjamin Franklin

"An unbending tree is easily broken." Lao Tzu

"Another golden rule is: don't lose your cool." Yogi Bear

"I wanted to be the first woman to burn her bra, but it would have taken the fire department four days to put it out." Dolly Parton

"I can resist everything but temptation." Oscar Wilde

"There is only one thing in the world that is worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." Oscar Wilde

"The best thing to hold on to in life is each other." Audrey Hepburn

"Of all my verse, like not a single line;
But like my title, for it is not mine.
That title from a better man I stole:
Ah, how much better, had I stol'n the whole." Robert Louis Stevenson

A man said to the universe:
"Sir, I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."     Stephen Crane