Wit Quotes

• Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.

  Aristotle

  Humor, Examination, Tests

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• Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.

  Oscar Wilde

  Sarcasm, Form, Lowest

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• Wit gives an edge to sense, and recommends it extremely.

  William Penn

  Giving, Ballast, Edges

  Benjamin Franklin, William Penn (2012). “Franklin's Way to Wealth and Penn's Maxims”, p.38, Courier Corporation

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• Of all wit's uses, the main one is to live well with who has none.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Use, Live Well, Wells

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1872). “The Prose Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Representative men. English traits. Conduct of life”, p.445

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• The distrust of wit is the beginning of tyranny.

  Edward Abbey

  Laughter, Distrust, Tyranny

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.18, RosettaBooks

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• The best thing next to wit is a consciousness that it is not in us; without wit, a man might then know how to behave himself, so as not to appear to be a fool or a coxcomb.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Men, Might, Next

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• Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast. Yet it must be confessed that wit given an edge to sense, and recommends it extremely.

  William Penn

  Judgment, Given, Sail

  Benjamin Franklin, William Penn (2012). “Franklin's Way to Wealth and Penn's Maxims”, p.38, Courier Corporation

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• For the qualities of sheer wit and humor, Swift had no superior, ancient or modern.

  Leigh Hunt

  Quality, Wit And Humor, Ancient

  Leigh Hunt (1856). “Selections from the English poets”

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• A Christian's wit is offensive light,
  A beam that aids, but never grieves the sight;
  Vig'rous in age as in the flush of youth,
  'Tis always active on the side of truth.

  William Cowper

  Christian, Grieving, Light

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• With the latitude of unbounded scurrility, it is easy enough to attain the character of a wit, especially when it is considered how wonderfully pleasant it is to the generality of the public to see the folly of their acquaintance exposed by a third person.

  Henry Fielding

  Character, Easy, Enough

  Henry Fielding (1782). “The Beauties of Fielding: Carefully Selected ... To which is Added Some Account of His Life”, p.199

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• Wit generally succeeds more from being happily addressed than from its native poignancy. A jest, calculated to spread at a gaming-table, may be received with, perfect indifference should it happen to drop in a mackerel-boat.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Perfect, May, Tables

  Oliver Goldsmith (1841). “Essays”, p.3

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• Wit and wisdom differ; wit is upon the sudden turn, wisdom is bringing about ends.

  John Selden

  Ends, Wit And Wisdom, Turns

  John Selden, Richard Milward (1689). “Table Talk: Being the Discourses of John Selden”, p.151

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• Women ought not to know their own wit, because they will still be showing it, and so spoil it.

  John Selden

  Spoil, Stills, Ought

  John Selden, Richard Milward (1689). “Table Talk: Being the Discourses of John Selden”, p.152

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• As wit is too hard for power in council, so power is too hard for wit in action.

  William Wycherley

  Action, Council, Hard

  William Wycherley, William Congreve, Sir John Vanbrugh, George Farquhar (1871). “The Dramatic Works of Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar :”, p.18

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• Wit has as few true judges as painting.

  William Wycherley

  Judging, Painting

  William Wycherley, Peter Dixon (1998). “Country Wife and Other Plays”, p.13, Oxford University Press, USA

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• Men famed for wit, of dangerous talents vain,
  Treat those of common parts with proud disdain;
  The powers that wisdom would, improving, hide,
  They blaze abroad, with inconsid'rate pride;
  While yet but mere probationers for fame,
  They seize the honor they should then disclaim:
  Honor so hurried to the light must fade,
  The lasting laurels nourish in the shade.

  George Crabbe

  Pride, Men, Light

  George Crabbe (1839). “The Poetical Works of Crabbe, Heber, and Pollok: Complete in One Volume”, p.158

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• You may be witty, but not satirical.

  Horace Greeley

  Witty, May, Satirical

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• Genuine witticisms surprise those who say them as much as those who listen to them; they arise in us in spite of us, or, at least, without our participation,--like everything inspired.

  Joseph Joubert

  Inspired, Surprise, Arise

  Joseph Joubert (1867). “Some of the "Thoughts" of Joseph Joubert”, p.83

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• Only just the right quantum of wit should be put into a book; in conversation a little excess is allowable.

  Joseph Joubert

  Book, Excess, Littles

  Joseph Joubert (1896). “Pensées of Joubert”

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• There are some men who are witty when they are in a bad humor, and others only when they are sad.

  Joseph Joubert

  Witty, Men

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• It consisteth in one knows not what, and springeth up one can hardly tell how. Its ways are unaccountable and inexplicable, being answerable to the numberless rovings of fancy and windings of language.

  Isaac Barrow

  Roving, Fancy, Way

  Isaac Barrow (1818). “The Theological Works of Isaac Barrow”, p.306

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• By wit we search divine aspect above,
  By wit we learn what secrets science yields,
  By wit we speak, by wit the mind is rul'd,
  By wit we govern all our actions;
  Wit is the loadstar of each human thought,
  Wit is the tool by which all things are wrought.

  Robert Greene

  Yield, Secret, Mind

  Robert Greene, George Peele, Alexander Dyce (1861). “The dramatic and poetical works: With memoirs of the authors and notes”, p.319

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• In cheerful souls there is no wit. Wit shows a disturbance of the equipoise.

  Novalis

  Soul, Cheerful, Shows

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• It is a certain rule that wit and passion are entirely incompatible. When the affections are moved, there is no place for the imagination.

  David Hume

  Passion, Imagination, Affection

  David Hume (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of David Hume (Illustrated)”, p.697, Delphi Classics

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• Wit has its place in debate; in controversy it is a legitimate weapon, offensive and defensive.

  Theodore Parker

  Weapons, Debate, Offensive

  Theodore Parker (1871). “Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons”, p.299

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