Jest Quotes - Page 6

• It is depressing to hear the unfortunate or dying man jest.

  Anton Chekhov

  Death, Depressing, Men

  "On the Road". Short story by Anton Chekhov, 1886.

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• The wood-carver can fashion whatever he will. Yet his products are but toys of the moment, to be glanced at in jest, not fashioned according to any precept or law. When times change, the carver too will change his style and make new trifles to hit the fancy of the passing day. But there is another kind of artist, who sets more soberly about his work, striving to give real beauty to the things which men actually use and to give to them the shape which tradition has ordained. This maker of real things must not for a moment be confused with the maker of idle toys.

  Murasaki Shikibu

  Fashion, Confused, Real

  Murasaki Shikibu (2011). “The Tale of Genji”, p.61, Tuttle Publishing

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• Many true words are spoken in jest.

  Dinah Maria Murlock Craik

  Humor, True Words

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• Love taught me that your honour did but jest.

  Graham Greene

  Taught, Honour

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• Better to wait and yearn, and still to wait, And die at last with unappeased desire, Than live to be the jest of such a fate, For that is my conception of hell-fire.

  Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  Wise, Wisdom, Fate

  Ella Wheeler Wilcox (2012). “Leafs On An Idle Breeze - My Inspirational Poems (Annotated Edition)”, p.1004, Jazzybee Verlag

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• "The birds can fly, an' why can't I? Must we give in," says he, with a grin, "'T the blackbird an' phoebe are smarter 'n we be? Jest fold our hands, an' see the swaller An' blackbird an' catbird beat us holler? ... Jest show me that! er prove 't that bat Hez got more brains thans's in my hat, An' I'll back down, an' not till then!"

  John Townsend Trowbridge

  Hands, Giving, Bird

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• If you are affronted it is better to pass it by in silence, or with a jest, though with some dishonor, than to endeavor revenge. If you can keep reason above passion, that and watchfulness will be your best defenders.

  Isaac Newton

  Revenge, Passion, Silence

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• It is good to jest, but not to make a trade of jesting.

  Elizabeth I

  Trade

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• The raillery which is consistent with good-breeding is a gentle animadversion of some foible, which, while it raises the laugh in the rest of the company, doth not put the person rallied out of countenance, or expose him to shame or contempt. On the contrary, the jest should be so delicate that the object of it should be capable of joining in the mirth it occasions.

  Henry Fielding

  Joining In, Laughing, Mirth

  Henry Fielding, Thomas Roscoe (1851). “The Works of Henry Fielding: Complete in One Volume”, p.643

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• Jest not with the eye or with Religion.

  George Herbert

  Eye

  George Herbert, Christopher Harvey, George Gilfillan (1857). “The poetical works of George Herbert”, p.297

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• The human animal ... is ... neither male nor female ... And if I am allowed to jest a little in passing, I have a joke that is not altogether irrelevant: nothing resembles a male cat on the windowsill more than a female cat.

  Marie de Gournay

  Cat, Animal, Males

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• I don't believe that there is a human creature in his senses, arrived to maturity, that at some time or other has not been carried away by this passion (sc. envy) in good earnest; yet I never met with any one who dared own he was guilty of it but in jest.

  Bernard de Mandeville

  Believe, Passion, Maturity

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• Life seems a jest of Fate's contriving.

  James Russell Lowell

  Life, Fate, Conniving

  James Russell Lowell (1871). “The poetical works of James Russell Lowell”, p.430

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• No single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.

  David Foster Wallace

  Inspirational, Powerful, Infinite Jest

  "Infinite Jest". Book by David Foster Wallace, 1996.

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• Many get the repute of being witty but thereby lose the credit of being sensible. Jest has its little hour, seriousness should have all the rest.

  Baltasar Gracian

  Witty, Should Have, Credit

  Baltasar Gracian, Baltasar Gracián y Morales (2004). “The Art of Worldly Wisdom”, p.44, Shambhala Publications

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• There is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness.

  David Foster Wallace

  Kindness, Anxiety Attacks, Infinite Jest

  David Foster Wallace (2011). “Infinite Jest”, p.146, Hachette UK

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• Stephen kissed me in the spring, Robin in the fall, But Colin only looked at me And never kissed at all. Stephen’s kiss was lost in jest, Robin’s lost in play, But the kiss in Colin’s eyes Haunts me night and day.

  Sara Teasdale

  Spring, Fall, Eye

  Sara Teasdale, “The Look”

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• The universe does not jest with us, but is in earnest.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Doe, Earnest, Universe

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2015). “Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - Poetry and Imagination”, p.1, Editora Dracaena

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• Oh sirs, deal with sin as sin, and speak of heaven and hell as they are, and not as if you were in jest.

  John Flavel

  Heaven, Sin, Speak

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• I'm a big believer that your word is your wand. You know how people say things like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm such an idiot.' I don't say things like that anymore. Those put-downs, even if they're in jest, are little bullets of negativity that you don't need in your life.

  Mariska Hargitay

  People, Negativity, Needs

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• Some had rather lose their friend then their Jest.

  George Herbert

  Loses

  George Herbert (1874). “The Complete Works of George Herbert: Prose”, p.373

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• Bees are not as busy as we think they are. They just can't buzz any slower.

  Kin Hubbard

  Thinking, Bees, Buzz

  "Reading I've Liked : A Personal Selection Drawn from Two Decades of Reading and Reviewing, Presented with an Informal Prologue and Various Commentaries". Book by Clifton Fadiman, 1941.

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• Try to let what is unfair teach you.

  David Foster

  Trying, Infinite Jest, Unfair

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• Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee Jest, and youthful Jollity, Quips, and Cranks, and wanton Wiles, Nods, and Becks, and wreathed Smiles, Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, And love to live in dimple sleek; Sport that wrinkled Care derides, And Laughter holding both his sides.

  John Milton

  Sports, Laughter, Nymphs

  John Milton, John Hunter (1864). “Milton's Comus, L'allegro, and Il Penseroso: With Numerous Illustrative Notes &c”, p.59

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• All great humorists are sad... I cannot help seeing beyond the tinsel of humour, and recognising the pitiful basis of jest - the world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind.

  H. P. Lovecraft

  World, Helping, Comic

  "Collected Essays, Volume 5: Philosophy" edited by S. T. Joshi, (p. 54), 2006.

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