Wit Quotes - Page 6

• Wit and Humor - if any difference, it is in duration - lightning and electric light. Same material, apparently; but one is vivid, and can do damage - the other fools along and enjoys elaboration.

  Mark Twain

  Differences, Light, Duration

  Mark Twain, Bob Blaisdell (2013). “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain”, p.84, Courier Corporation

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• Wit penetrates; humor envelops. Wit is a function of verbal intelligence; humor is imagination operating on good nature.

  Peggy Noonan

  Imagination, Function, Good Nature

  "What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era". Book by Peggy Noonan, 1990.

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• Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which before their union were not perceived to have any relation.

  Mark Twain

  Ideas, Literature, Unions

  Mark Twain, Michael Barry Frank, Robert Pack Browning, Lin Salamo, Frederick Anderson, Mark Twain (1980). “Mark Twain's Notebooks & Journals, Volume III: (1883-1891)”, p.172, Univ of California Press

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• Wit is educated insolence.

  Aristotle

  Inspirational, Witty, Humorous

  Aristotle (1909). “The Rhetoric of Aristotle: A Translation”

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• Wit is the epitaph of an emotion.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Emotional, Feelings, Tongue

  'Menschliches, Allzumenschliches' (1867-80) vol. 2, sect. 1, no. 202

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• Wit is a pleasure-giving thing, largely because it eludes reason; but in the apprehension of an absurdity through the working of the comic spirit there is a foundation of reason, and an impetus to human companionship.

  Agnes Repplier

  Giving, Foundation, Elude

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• To be witty is not enough. One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it.

  Andre Maurois

  Witty, Humor, Too Much

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• Getting something and having the wits to use it...those are two different things.

  Rick Riordan

  Two, Different, Use

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• No man is the wiser for his learning; it may administer matter to work in, or objects to work upon; but wit and wisdom are born with a man.

  John Selden

  Wisdom, Men, May

  John SELDEN, Richard Milward (1786). “Table-Talk: being the Discourses of John Selden, Esq.; or his sence of various matters of weight and high consequence relating especially to Religion and State. Edited by R. Milward”, p.77

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• A witty saying proves nothing.

  Voltaire

  Inspirational, Witty, Humorous

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• Impropriety is the soul of wit.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Advice

  Moon and Sixpence (1919) ch. 4

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• Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.

  Oscar Wilde

  Inspirational, Irony, Substitutes

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• Wit ought to be a glorious treat like caviar; never spread it about like marmalade.

  Noel Coward

  Witty, Writing, Caviar

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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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• 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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• 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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• 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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