Wit Quotes - Page 15

• A pun is not bound by the laws which limit nicer wit. It is a pistol let off at the ear; not a feather to tickle the intellect.

  Charles Lamb

  Law, Ears, Pistols

  1833 Of puns. Last Essays of Elia,'Popular Fallacies', no.9.

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• Don't fall in love with your wit. Your cleverly turned phrase may not, as you hope, show off how much gray matter you have, especially if the phrase is at someone else's expense.

  Harvey Mackay

  Falling In Love, Gray Matter, Phrases

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• I definitely did look up to John. We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader; he was the quickest wit and the smartest.

  Paul McCartney

  Leader, Looks, Look Up

  Interview with Joan Goodman, Playboy Magazine (December 1984), later quoted in "The Beatles: Paperback Writer: 40 Years of Classic Writing" edited by Mike Evans, 2009.

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• A witty woman is a treasure; a witty beauty is a power.

  George Meredith

  Beauty, Witty, Treasure

  'Diana of the Crossways' (1885) ch. 1

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• Freud was the son of a Jewish merchant who had to move his whole family to Vienna because he couldn't get work. He, as a boy, had to watch his father be mocked and abused on the street for being Jewish... You develop a thick skin and you develop a certain kind of wit to defend yourself.

  Viggo Mortensen

  Father, Moving, Son

  Interview with Radheyan Simonpillai, www.askmen.com.

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• I lived rough, by my wits, was homeless, lived on the streets, lived on friends' floors, was happy, was miserable.

  Ben Okri

  Miserable, Homeless, Rough

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• Display advertising and the movies, though they may dull the wits, certainly stimulate the eyes.

  John Dos Passos

  Eye, Dull, May

  John Dos Passos (1988). “John Dos Passos: the major nonfictional prose”

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• So vast is art, so narrow human wit.

  Alexander Pope

  Art, Science, Genius

  Alexander Pope, Alexander Dyce (1854). “The poetical works of Alexander Pope: with a life”, p.5

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• Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild; In Wit a man; Simplicity, a child.

  Alexander Pope

  Children, Men, Simplicity

  'Epitaph: On Mr Gay in Westminster Abbey' (1733)

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• There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.

  Alexander Pope

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Simplicity

  Alexander Pope (1806). “The works of Alexander Pope. Containing the principal notes of drs. Warburton and Warton [&c.]. To which are added, some original letters, with additional observations, and memoirs, by W.L. Bowles”, p.64

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• One science only will one genius fit; so vast is art, so narrow human wit.

  Alexander Pope

  Art, Philosophy, Science

  Alexander Pope (1835). “The works of Alexander Pope; with a memoir of the author, notes [&c.] by G. Croly”, p.60

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• Wit and playfulness represent a desperately serious transcendence of evil. Humor is both a form of wisdom and a means of survival.

  Tom Robbins

  Mean, Evil, Survival

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• Being a blockhead is sometimes the best security against being cheated by a man of wit.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Cheating, Men, Sometimes

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• As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Wisdom, Saying Nothing, Few Words

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• Conceit causes more conversation than wit.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Conceited, Causes, Conversation

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• Whether it's viewers of the show or readers of my columns and books, I'm consistently impressed with their wit, humor and insight. That goes for about 95 percent of the audience. The other five percent are why the 'Delete' option and restraining orders were invented.

  Richard Roeper

  Book, Order, Columns

  "Meet a Critic: Richard Roeper". Interview with Jen Yamato, editorial.rottentomatoes.com. December 5, 2007.

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• The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Dream, Regret, Age

  Theodore Roosevelt (2015). “Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century”, p.13, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Woman: the peg on which the wit hangs his jest, the preacher his text, the cynic his grouch and the sinner his justification.

  Helen Rowland

  Jest, Cynic, Preacher

  Irvin S. Cobb, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Helen Rowland, Richard Saunders (2017). “We Should All Be So Feminine: We Should All Be a Feminist: We Should All Be Feminists”, p.62, Lulu.com

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• The fact is that America's weapons systems have made it impossible for anybody to confront it militarily. So, all you have is your wits and your cunning, and your ability to fight in the way the Iraqis are fighting.

  Arundhati Roy

  Fighting, America, Weapons

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• Reason is mechanical, wit chemical, and genius organic spirit.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Genius, Spirit, Reason

  "Athenaeum" magazine, #366, 1798.

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• Wit as an instrument of revenge is as infamous as art is as a means of sensual titillation.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Art, Revenge, Mean

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• Wit is the appearance, the external flash, of fantasy. Hence its divinity and the similarity to the wit of mysticism.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Witty, Character, Imagination

  "The Early Political Writings of the German Romantics" edited by Frederick C. Beiser, (p. 131), 1996.

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• Wit is an explosion of the compound spirit.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Literature, Spirit, Explosions

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• Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.

  William Shakespeare

  Cute, Witty, Fools Day

  'Twelfth Night' (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. [37]

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• There's many a man hath more hair than wit.

  William Shakespeare

  Men, Hair

  "The Two Gentlemen of Verona".

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