ABSTRACT
Kierkegaard also coins epigrams of his own. An early example is provided by a journal entry of 1837: “Philosophy is life’s dry nurse, it can look after us but not give us suck.”18 Some of the diapsalmata of Either/Or, Part One evince the characteristics of the epigram, namely, brevity, wit, and sometimes a sting in the tail.19 Many of Kierkegaard’s epigrams, however, are embedded in larger discourses, which means that their epigrammatic character can easily be overlooked. Nevertheless, a close reading of his writings will reveal that Kierkegaard was a master of the well-turned phrase that succinctly sums up an aspect of the human condition or makes a barbed, satirical comment. To take just two examples: “Fixed ideas are like cramps e.g. in the foot-the best remedy for them is to trample on them,”20 and, “Love…does not change the beloved but it changes itself.”21
