Ridicule Quotes

• Mockery is often the result of a poverty of wit.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Poverty, Results, Wit

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• Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religion, Atheism, Libertarian

  Thomas Jefferson (1939). “Democracy”

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  I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.

  Frederick Douglass

  Respect, Fear, Integrity

  Frederick Douglass (2013). “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave”, p.54, Simon and Schuster

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• Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.

  Oscar Wilde

  Genius, Mediocrity, Tribute

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• Ridicule is the first and last argument of a fool.

  Charles Simmons

  Lasts, Fool, Firsts

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• He who brings ridicule to bear against truth finds in his hand a blade without a hilt.

  Walter Savage Landor

  Hands, Bears, Blades

  Walter Savage Landor (2016). “Delphi Collected Poetical Works of Walter Savage Landor (Illustrated)”, Delphi Classics

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• Ridicule has always been the enemy of enthusiasm, and the only worthy opponent to ridicule is success.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Enemy, Opponents, Enthusiasm

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• ridicule may be a shield, but it is not a weapon.

  Dorothy Parker

  May, Weapons, Shields

  Dorothy Parker (2004). “Dorothy Parker in Her Own Words”, Taylor Trade Publishing

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• Ridicule is the best test of truth.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Truth, Tests

  'Letters to his Son' (1774) 6 February 1752.

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  All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Inspirational, Witty, Truth

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2016). “101 Facts of life”, p.4, Publishdrive

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• The most effective way of attacking vice is to expose it to public ridicule. People can put up with rebukes but they cannot bear being laughed at: they are prepared to be wicked but they dislike appearing ridiculous.

  Moliere

  People, Wicked, Vices

  "The Misanthrope and Other Plays". Book by Molière, p. 101, 1959.

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• Ridicule dishonors a man more than dishonor does.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Men, Doe, Dishonor

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• There is nothing one sees oftener than the ridiculous and magnificent, such close neighbors that they touch.

  Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle

  Ridiculous, Neighbor, Magnificent

  "Oeuvres, Dialogues des Morts". Book by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (Chapter IV), traslated, 1683.

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• I think the hardest part about being a teenager is dealing with other teenagers - the criticism and the ridicule, the gossip and rumors.

  Beverley Mitchell

  Teenager, Thinking, Gossip

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• Ridicule more often settles things more thoroughly and better than acrimony.

  Horace

  Acrimony, Settling

  "Satires", Book I. 10. 14, as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations, p. 673-74, 1922.

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• Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Political, Politics, Reason

  Thomas Jefferson (2004). “Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness”, p.47, Modern Library

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• Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.

  Louisa May Alcott

  Inspirational, Truth, Names

  Letter to the American Woman Suffrage Association, October 1885.

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• Twas the saying of an ancient sage that humour was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humour. For a subject which would not bear raillery was suspicious; and a jest which would not bear a serious examination was certainly false wit.

  Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury

  Sage, Examination, Tests

  "Characteristics", Letter Concerning Enthusiasm, Part I. Sect. V, as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations, p. 673-74, 1922.

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• Suburban houses and tin sheds are often the objects of ridicule.

  David Byrne

  House, Tin, Shed

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• No God and no religion can survive ridicule. No political church, no nobility, no royalty or other fraud, can face ridicule in a fair field, and live.

  Mark Twain

  God, Political, Religion

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• Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule.

  Edward Gibbon

  Government, History, British Monarchy

  Edward Gibbon (1821). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.197

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• We grow tired of everything but turning others into ridicule, and congratulating ourselves on their defects.

  William Hazlitt

  Tired, Grows, Defects

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1921, Delphi Classics

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• The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.

  William Blake

  Nature, Moving, Eye

  William Blake (1977). “The Portable William Blake”, p.136, Penguin

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• How comes it to pass, then, that we appear such cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the test of ridicule? - Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury

  Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury

  Coward, Tests, Reasoning

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• One does not lash hat lies at a distance. The foibles that we ridicule must at least be a little bit our own. Only then will the work be a part of our own flesh. The garden must be weeded.

  Paul Klee

  Distance, Lying, Garden

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