Satirist Quotes

• Satirists gain the applause of others through fear, not through love.

  William Hazlitt

  Love, Sarcasm, Gains

  William Hazlitt (1837). “Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].”, p.31

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• I'm a satirist, so I've got boxing gloves on if the person is worthy of satire. But I'm not an assassin.

  Stephen Colbert

  Boxing, Assassins, Gloves

  "The man in the Irony Mask" by Seth Mnookin, www.vanityfair.com. October 2007.

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• What arouses the indignation of the honest satirist is not, unless the man is a prig, the fact that people in positions of power or influence behave idiotically, or even that they behave wickedly. It is that they conspire successfully to impose upon the public a picture of themselves as so very sagacious, honest and well-intentioned.

  Claud Cockburn

  Men, Position Of Power, People

  Claud Cockburn (1961). “View from the West: Being the Third Volume of Autobiography”

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• I'm a satirist, so I've got boxing gloves on if the person is worthy of satire. But I'm not an assassin. If that ever happens, it's only because something happened during the interview that got me going, and then I had to translate my feelings to the mouth of the character.

  Stephen Colbert

  Character, Boxing, Feelings

  "The man in the irony mask". Interview with Seth Mnookin, www.vanityfair.com. October, 2007.

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• In a more intellectually rigorous age, I wouldn't be talked about as a satirist at all. I would just be a topical comedian.

  Rory Bremner

  Comedian, Age

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• I'm not really a political satirist. I don't kid myself. I'm more interested in doing the mannerisms and the personality.

  Rich Little

  Children, Kids, Personality

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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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• The satirist shoots to kill while the humorist brings his prey back alive and eventually releases him again for another chance.

  Peter De Vries

  Laughter, Humor, Another Chance

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• Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.

  Lord Byron

  Song, Sarcasm, Fool

  'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers' (1809) l. 5

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• We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.

  Jonathan Swift

  Love, Religious, Hate

  'Thoughts on Various Subjects' (1706)

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• It is said that truth comes from the mouths of fools and children: I wish every good mind which feels an inclination for satire would reflect that the finest satirist always has something of both in him.

  Georg C. Lichtenberg

  Children, Sarcasm, Mind

  "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook J 157, 1799.

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• The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself, but in so doing, he identifies himself with people - that is, people everywhere, not for the purpose of taking them apart, but simply revealing their true nature.

  James Thurber

  Nature, Fun, People

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

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• A satirist is a man whose flesh creeps so at the ugly and the savage and the incongruous aspects of society that he has to express them as brutally and nakedly as possible in order to get relief.

  John Dos Passos

  Men, Order, Relief

  John Dos Passos (1964). “Occasions and protests”

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• The satirist who writes nothing but satire should write but little - or it will seem that his satire springs rather from his own caustic nature than from the sins of the world in which he lives.

  Anthony Trollope

  Nature, Spring, Writing

  Anthony Trollope (2014). “An Autobiography: and Other Writings”, p.159, OUP Oxford

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• The satirist is prevented by repulsion from gaining a better knowledge of the world he is attracted to, yet he is forced by attraction to concern himself with the world that repels him.

  Italo Calvino

  World, Concern, Attraction And Repulsion

  Italo Calvino (2017). “The Uses of Literature”, p.69, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Satire or sense, alas! Can Sporus feel? Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?

  Alexander Pope

  Butterfly, Wheels, Satire

  "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" l. 307 (1735)

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• If you describe things as better than they are, you are considered to be a romantic; if you describe things as worse than they are, you will be called a realist; and if you describe things exactly as they are, you will be thought of as a satirist.

  Quentin Crisp

  Writing, Realist, Ifs

  "The Naked Civil Servant". Book by Quentin Crisp, 1968.

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• I'd rather call myself a mischief-maker, an imp, rather than a satirist. Satirist sounds so self important. Plus no one is calling himself an imp right now. It makes me feel special.

  Mo Rocca

  Self, Special, Important

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• A political satirist's job is to draw blood. I'm not so much interested in politics as I am in overthrowing the government.

  Mort Sahl

  Jobs, Government, Blood

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• There's so much hate that we direct externally that we forget we have our own psychos. But that's the role of the satirist - you have to examine your own country and say, look!

  Carl Hiaasen

  Country, Hate, Roles

  "Sunshine satirist" by Hadley Freeman, www.theguardian.com. October 23, 2004.

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• When Actions are a Censure upon themselves, the Reciter will always be consider'd as a Satirist.

  Charlotte Lennox

  Action, Censure

  Charlotte Lennox (1752). “The Female Quixote, Or, The Adventures of Arabella: In Two Volumes”, p.163

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• But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party. Meaning, you can't go horseback riding with Jackie O in Central Park if you're going to make a joke about her that night.

  Joan Rivers

  Party, Humor, Night

  "Joan Rivers Interview: Her 6 Best One-Liners" by Merle Ginsberg, www.hollywoodreporter.com. June 12, 2013.

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• Comedy to the Senate? Well, there certainly hasn't been a satirist or a political satirist who's done that. So, that really was uncharted territory during the campaign. But I think it's a good thing. Some people thought that it was an odd career arc, but to me it made absolute sense.

  Al Franken

  Thinking, Careers, People

  "7 Days: Franken on Franken, Air America, “Senator Maddow” & More". Interview with Mark Green, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 23, 2009.

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• There is nothing we can't do. So it's just the fact that we're doing topics like that that other people, especially network TV, won't touch, that we're satirists.

  Trey Parker

  People, Topics, Facts

  Interview with Jeff Onto, www.ign.com. May 12, 2005.

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• The late great Horace Lloyd Swithin (1844-1917), British essayist, lecturer, satirist, and social observer, wrote in his autobiographical Appointments, 1890-1901 (1902), "When one travels abroad, one doesn't so much discover the hidden Wonders of the World, but the hidden wonders of the individuals with whom one is traveling. They may turn out to afford a stirring view, a rather dull landscape, or a terrain so treacherous one finds it's best to forget the entire affair and return home.

  Marisha Pessl

  Home, Views, World

  Marisha Pessl (2006). “Special Topics in Calamity Physics”, p.280, Penguin

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