Wit Quotes - Page 3

• The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

  Oscar Wilde

  Inspirational, Dream, Future

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde”, p.568, Wordsworth Editions

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  It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.

  Oscar Wilde

  People, Luck, Enemy

  LadyWindermere's Fan act 1 (1892)

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• The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

  Oscar Wilde

  Love, Inspirational, Positive

  The Importance of Being Earnest act 1 (1895)

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• All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Mothers Day, Mom

  The Importance of Being Earnest act 1 (1895). The same lines appear, as a dialogue between Lord Illingworth and Mrs. Allonby, in A Woman of No Importance, act 2 (1893).

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  The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Happy Birthday, Growing Up

  "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young" (1894)

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• If you don't know where you are currently standing, you're dead.

  Samuel Beckett

  Baseball, Goals Dreams, Yankees

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• The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself.

  James Thurber

  Fun, World, Comedy

  Interview with Edward R. Murrow on "Small World", CBS-TV, March 25, 1959.

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• You can't teach an old dogma new tricks.

  Dorothy Parker

  Dogma, Tricks, Teach

  Attributed to Dorothy Parker after her death in Robert E. Drennan "The Algonquin Wits" (p. 124), 1968.

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• If you do not know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Inspiring, Success, Baseball

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• A man must have a good share of wit himself to endure a great share in another.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Men, Share, Endure

  Lord Chesterfield (1998). “Lord Chesterfield's Letters”, p.345, Oxford Paperbacks

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• Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel.

  Yogi Berra

  Funny, Baseball, Yankees

  Yogi Berra (1998). “The Yogi Book”, p.44, Workman Publishing

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• Humor is consistent with pathos, whilst wit is not.

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  Tongue, Pathos, Consistent

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1836). “Letters, Conversations and Recollections”, p.233

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• True wit is nature to advantage dressed;
  What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.

  Alexander Pope

  Nature, Tongue, Advantage

  "A Selection from the Poetry of Alexander Pope".

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• It's hard to get lost if you don't know where you're going.

  Jim Jarmusch

  Baseball, Funny Motivational, Goals Dreams

  "His Films, His Way: Jim Jarmusch Is Still Figuring Out How to Do It". Interview with Marc Savlov, www.austinchronicle.com. October 20, 2000.

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• If you don't know where you're going any road will do

  Lewis Carroll

  Baseball, Travel, Goals Dreams

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• With little wit and ease to suit them, They whirl in narrow circling trails, Like kittens playing with their tails.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Tails, Ease, Littles

  BookCaps, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2012). “Faust in Plain and Simple English: First Part of the Tragedy: (A Modern Translation and the Original Version): BookCaps Study Guide”, p.177, BookCaps Study Guides

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• Wit, like money, bears an extra value when rung down immediately it is wanted. Men pay severely who require credit.

  Douglas William Jerrold

  Men, Credit, Pay

  Douglas William Jerrold, Blanchard Jerrold (1859). “Specimens of Douglas Jerrold's wit: together with selections, chiefly from his contributions to journals, intended to illustrate his opinions”, p.103

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• Great men may jest with saints; 'tis wit in them; But, in the less foul profanation.

  William Shakespeare

  Men, Saint, May

  'Measure for Measure' (1604) act 2, sc. 2, l. 127

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• Wit is the clash and reconcilement of incongruities; the meeting of extremes round a corner.

  Leigh Hunt

  Clash, Meetings, Incongruity

  Leigh Hunt (1856). “Leigh Hunt's Works”

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• Wit will shine Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line.

  John Dryden

  Shining, Lines, Cadence

  "To the Memory of Mr. Oldham" l. 15 (1684)

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• Ev'n wit's a burthen, when it talks too long.

  John Dryden

  Long

  John Dryden, Joseph Warton, John Warton (1811). “The Poetical Works of John Dryden: Containing Original Poems, Tales and Translations”, p.353

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• Wit may do very well for a mistress, but [I] should prefer reason for a wife.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Wife, Mistress, May

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.47

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• Wit is the rarest quality to be met with among people of education, and the most common among the uneducated.

  William Hazlitt

  People, Quality, Common

  William Hazlitt (1837). “Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].”, p.136

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• Many, affecting wit beyond their power, Have got to be a dear fool for an hour.

  George Herbert

  Fool, Hours, Dear

  George Herbert, Christopher Harvey, George Gilfillan (1857). “The poetical works of George Herbert”, p.11

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• It is no great advantage to possess a quick wit, if it is not correct; the perfection is not speed but uniformity.

  Luc de Clapiers

  Quick Wit, Perfection, Speed

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