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

  Novalis

  Soul, Cheerful, Shows

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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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