In the end, Auden’s epigram teaches by making us smile before we think. Like Oscar Wilde’s epigrams, the line compresses critique and counsel into a single turn of phrase. The laughter lowers our defenses, allowing a serious lesson to land: practice generosity, but carry epistemic modesty about other people’s purposes. By yoking duty to doubt, the aphorism invites a durable posture—help first, and meanwhile keep asking what kind of help preserves agency, honors dignity, and strengthens the web that holds us all. [...]
