Quotations

Epigrams

An epigram (2) is a stylistic device akin to a proverb, the only difference being that epigrams are coined by individuals whose names we know, while proverbs are the coinage of the people. We are always aware of the parentage of an epigram and therefore, when using one, we usually make a reference to its author.

Epigrams are terse, witty, pointed statements, showing the ingenious turn of mind of the originator. They always have a literary-bookish air about them that distinguishes them from proverbs. Epigrams possess a great degree of independence and if taken out of the context, will retain the wholeness of the idea they express. They have a generaliz­ing function and are self-sufficient. The most characteristic feature of an epigram is that the sentence gets accepted as a word-combination and often becomes part of the language as a whole. Like proverbs, epigrams can be expanded to apply to abstract notions. Brevity is the essential quality of the epigram. Epigrams are often confused with aphorisms and paradoxes. It is dif­ficult to draw a demarcation line between them, the distinction being very subtle. Real epigrams are true to fact and that is why they win general recognition and acceptance.

"Art is triumphant when it can use convention as an instrument of its own purpose."

This sentence is not a model epigram because it lacks one essential quality, viz. brevity. It is too long and therefore cannot function in speech as a ready-made language unit. It lacks other features- rhythm, alliteration and often rhyme. It cannot be expanded to other spheres of life, it does not generalize.

"A God that can be understood is no God."

This sentence seems to meet all the necessary requirements of the epigram: it is brief, generalizing, witty and can be expanded in its appli­cation.

^“… in the days of old men made manners;

Manners now make man”

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

Writers use epigrams to characterize the hero of their work or when they seek aesthetic precision. Poetry is epigrammatic in essence. It strives for brevity of expression, leaving to the mind of the reader the pleasure of amplifying the idea.

A quotation (3) is a repetition of a phrase or statement from a book, speech and the like used by way of authority, illustration, proof or as a basis for further speculation on the matter in hand.

By repeating a passage in a new environment, we attach to the ut­terance an importance it might not have had in the context whence it was taken. We give it the status of a stable language unit. What is quoted must be worth quoting, since a quotation will inevitably acquire some degree of generalization. If repeated frequently, it may be recognized as an epigram, if, of course, it has some of the linguistic properties of the latter.

Quotations are usually marked off in the text by inverted commas (""), dashes (—), italics.

They are mostly used accompanied by a reference to the author of the quotation, unless he is well known to the reader or audience. The reference is made either in the text or in a foot-note and assumes va­rious forms:

"as (so and so) has it"; "(So and so) once said that"...; "Here we quote (so and so)".

A quotation is the exact reproduction of an actual utterance made by a certain author. The work containing the utterance quoted must have been published or at least spoken in public; for quotations are echoes of somebody else's words.

Utterances, when quoted, undergo a peculiar and subtle change. They are rank-and-file members of the text they belong to, merging with other sentences in this text in the most natural and organic way, bearing some part of the general sense the text as a whole embodies; yet, when they are quoted, their significance is heightened and they become different from other parts of the text. Once quoted, they are no longer rank-and-file units. If they are used to back up the idea ex­pressed in the new text, they become "parent sentences" with the cor­responding authority and respect and acquire a symbolizing function; in short, they not infrequently become epigrams.

A quotation is always set against the other sentences in the text by its greater volume of sense and significance. This singles it out, par­ticularly if it is frequently repeated, as any utterance worth committing to memory generally is. The use of quotations presupposes a good know­ledge of the past experience of the nation, its literature and culture. The stylistic value of a quotation lies in the fact that it com­prises two meanings: the primary meaning, the one which it has in its original surroundings, and the applicative meaning, i.e. the one which it acquires in the new context.

Quotations, unlike epigrams, need not necessarily be short. A whole paragraph or a long passage may be quoted if it suits the purpose. Sometimes a quotation in a new environment may assume a new shade of meaning, a shade necessary or sought by the quoter, but not intended by the writer of the original work.

"Socrates said, our only knowledge was

"To know that nothing could be known" a pleasant

Science enough, which levels to an ass

Each man of Wisdom, future, past or present,

Newton (that proverb of the mind) alas!

Declared with all his grand discoveries recent

That he himself felt only "like a youth

Picking up shells by the great ocean—Truth." (Byron)

"Ecclesiastes said, "that all is vanity"— Most modern preachers say the same, or show it by their examples of the Christianity..." (Byron)

Quotations are used as a stylistic device with the aim of expanding the meaning of the sentence quoted and setting two meanings one against the other, thus modifying the original meaning. In this quality they are used mostly in the belles-lettres style. Quotations used in other styles of speech allow no modifications of mean­ing, unless actual distortion of form and meaning is the aim of the quoter.

Quotations are also used in epigraphs. The quotation in this case possesses great associative power and calls forth much connotative mean­ing.

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