From Julian Barnes' "The Man in the Red Coat"

Been reading it a while -- almost finished. 

An interesting "clip":

Those who generalise about the human condition often find their truths overturned by the obstinate individualism of reality. And the high point of the generalisation is the Wildean epigram. It is intended to be piquant, to stun and amuse and make the reader (or theatregoer) feel inferior: in this, the Wildean epigram is a verbal dandy. And like the dandy, most epigrams, except the greatest, come with a “best before” label. Time is equally the enemy of the butterfly, the dandy and the epigram.

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