What is the difference between the meaning of the words 'epitome' and 'quintessence'?

Question

:)

Answer 1

They both mean pretty much the same thing. The only difference is in their 2nd meanings:

Epitome can mean:
a summary of a written work; an abstract.
• archaic a thing representing something else in miniature.

Quintessence can mean:
the aspect of something regarded as the intrinsic and central constituent of its character: we were all brought up to believe that advertising is the quintessence of marketing.
• a refined essence or extract of a substance.
• (in classical and medieval philosophy) a fifth substance in addition to the four elements, thought to compose the heavenly bodies and to be latent in all things.