Ridicule Quotes

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

  Oscar Wilde

  Genius, Mediocrity, Tribute

  14 Copy quote

• The height of stupidity is most clearly demonstrated by the individual who ridicules something he knows nothing about.

  Albert Einstein

  Stupid, Height, Individual

  190 Copy quote
• 

  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

  210 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religion, Atheism, Libertarian

  Thomas Jefferson (1939). “Democracy”

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Charles Simmons

  Lasts, Fool, Firsts

  12 Copy quote
• 

  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

  238 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  90 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Poverty, Results, Wit

  8 Copy quote

• 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

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Enemy, Opponents, Enthusiasm

  54 Copy quote

• A profound conviction raises a man above the feeling of ridicule.

  John Stuart Mill

  Men, Profound, Feelings

  3 Copy quote

• Ridicule is a weak weapon when pointed at a strong mind; but common people are cowards and dread an empty laugh.

  Martin Farquhar Tupper

  Strong, Fear, People

  12 Copy quote

• Consistency is only suitable for ridicule.

  Moliere

  Consistency, Suitable

  4 Copy quote

• I am a fool, fools tend to follow their hearts amidst ridicule.

  Ellis

  Heart, Fool

  3 Copy quote

• It is easy for a man who sits idle at home, and has nobody to please but himself, to ridicule or censure the common practices of mankind.

  Samuel Johnson

  Home, Men, Practice

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  3 Copy quote

• Ridicule often checks what is absurd, and fully as often smothers that which is noble.

  Walter Scott

  Thinking, Noble, Absurd

  Sir Walter Scott (1850). “The Novels of Walter Scott: With All His Introd. and Notes”, p.115

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• Ridicule dishonors a man more than dishonor does.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Men, Doe, Dishonor

  4 Copy quote

• Some men are, in regard to ridicule, like tin-roofed buildings in regard to hail: all that hits them bounds rattling off; not a stone goes through.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Men, Tin, Stones

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.165

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• Mysticism and exaggeration go together. A mystic must not fear ridicule if he is to push all the way to the limits of humility or the limits of delight.

  Milan Kundera

  Humility, Exaggeration Is, Together

  5 Copy quote

• Ridicule is often employed with more power and success than severity.

  Horace

  Employed, Severity

  3 Copy quote

• Ridicule, the weapon of all others most feared by enthusiasts of every description, and which from its predominance over such minds, often checks what is absurd, and fully as often smothers that which is noble.

  Walter Scott

  Fear, Mind, Noble

  Walter Scott (2015). “The Complete Novels of Sir Walter Scott: Waverly, Rob Roy, Ivanhoe, The Pirate, Old Mortality, The Guy Mannering, The Antiquary, The Heart of Midlothian and many more (Illustrated): The Betrothed, The Talisman, Black Dwarf, The Monastery, The Abbot, Kenilworth, Peveril of the Peak, A Legend of Montrose, The Fortunes of Nigel, Tales from Benedictine Sources…”, p.3945, e-artnow

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• We are largely the playthings of our fears. To one, fear of the dark; to another, of physical pain; to a third, of public ridicule; to a fourth, of poverty; to a fifth, of loneliness ... for all of us, our particular creature waits in ambush.

  Horace Walpole

  Fear, Pain, Loneliness

  12 Copy quote

• 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

  3 Copy quote

  Show source