Tuesday April 23, 2013
Charming chiasmus
By TAN LING SUAN
I HAVE enjoyed occasional encounters with chiasmus where words, ideas and various expressions are skilfully repeated in reverse order. I find them insightful and entertaining, full of wit and wisdom.
Since my schooldays, I have been compiling interesting quotes from various sources – books, magazines, newspapers, the Internet and e-mails sent to me.
Then some years ago, I stumbled upon a reference to chiasmus, and the title of a book Never Let A Fool Kiss You Or A Kiss Fool You by Dr Mardy Grothe. He is a psychologist in New England, the United States, with a longstanding interest in words, language, and quotations.
I subscribed as a member for his newsletter and started adding chiastic quotes to my collection. Many may have come across them without knowing they can be classified under a term, “chiasmus”.
I would like to share some of my favourites with readers here.
Charm is a woman’s strength just as strength is a man’s charm. (Havelock Ellis)
Content makes poor people rich; discontent makes rich people poor. (Benjamin Franklin)
Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. (John G. Diefenbaker)
It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense. (Robert G. Ingersoll)
The purpose of life is a life of purpose. (Robert Byrne)
Think like a man of action; act like a man of thought. (Henri Bergson)
When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. (Jimi Hendrix)
One should eat to live, not live to eat. (Cicero)
Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. (John F Kennedy)
Here are samples of such quotes from famous men of long ago:
A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough.
(Benjamin Franklin)
(Being) content makes poor people rich; discontent makes rich people poor.
(Benjamin Franklin)
My great concern is not whether God is on my side; my concern is to be on God’s side. (Abraham Lincoln)
The instinct of a man is to pursue everything that flies from him, and to fly from all that pursues him. (Voltaire)
The two most engaging powers of an author, are, to make new things familiar, and familiar things new. (Dr Samuel Johnson)
These are among my favourites from unknown sources:
An optimist laughs to forget; a pessimist forgets to laugh.
In infancy we learn to wrinkle our faces; in old age we learn to face our wrinkles.
It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.
What’s right isn’t always popular; what’s popular isn’t always right.
Well, don’t you now find chiastic quotes insightful and entertaining?
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