Wit Quotes - Page 8

• Let each man have the wit to go his own way.

  Propertius

  Men, Way

  Sextus Propertius (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Propertius (Illustrated)”, p.76, Delphi Classics

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• Wit is absolutely sociable spirit or aphoristic genius.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Genius, Spirit, Sociable

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• Wit sometimes enables us to act rudely with impunity.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Sometimes, Impunity

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• When we seek after wit, we discover only foolishness.

  Baron de Montesquieu

  Foolishness

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• A fool who has a flash of wit creates astonishment and scandal, like hack-horses setting out to gallop.

  Nicolas Chamfort

  Horse, Scandal, Fool

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• There are as many and innumerable degrees of wit, as there are cubits between this and heaven.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Heaven, Degrees

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• Oh! a private buffoon is a light-hearted loon,
  If you listen to popular rumour;
  From morning to night he's so joyous and bright,
  And he bubbles with wit and good humour!

  W. S. Gilbert

  Funny, Morning, Night

  William Schwenck Gilbert, “The Family Fool”

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• I grow in worth, and wit, and sense, Unboding critic-pen, Or that eternal want of pence, Which vexes public men.

  Alfred Lord Tennyson

  Men, Vex, Want

  'Will Waterproof's Lyrical Monologue' (1842) st. 6

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• It is of no use to possess a lively wit if it is not of the right proportion: the perfection of a clock is not to go fast, but to be accurate.

  Luc de Clapiers

  Perfection, Use, Clock

  Jean de La Bruyère, Luc de Clapiers marquis de Vauvenargues (1903). “La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims”

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• Wit does not take the place of knowledge.

  Luc de Clapiers

  Doe

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• Laugh as loud as you please at your companion's wit; do not even smile at his folly.

  Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann

  Laughing, Advice, Loud

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• We find ourselves less witty in remembering what we have said than in dreaming of what we would have said.

  Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

  Dream, Witty, Remember

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• There must be more malice than love in the hearts of all wits.

  Benjamin Haydon

  Heart, Malice

  Benjamin Robert Haydon (1859). “Life of Benjamin Robert Haydon, Historical Painter: From His Autobiography and Jounals”, p.469

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• Wit is the flower of the imagination.

  Livy

  Flower, Imagination

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• The history of imitation of the older literature, particularly abroad, has among other advantages this one, that the important concepts of unintentional parody and passive wit can be deduced from it most easily and comprehensively.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Important, Literature, Imitation

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• One should have wit, but not wish to have it; otherwise there will be witticism, the Alexandrian style of wit.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Should Have, Style, Wish

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• It is not wit merely, but temper, which must form the well-bred man. In the same manner it is not a head merely, but a heart and resolution, which must complete the real philosopher.

  Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury

  Real, Heart, Men

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• Wit is its own remedy. Liberty and commerce bring it to its true standard. The only danger is the laying an embargo. The same thing happens here as in the case of trade: impositions and restrictions reduce it to a low ebb; nothing is so advantageous to it as a free port.

  Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury

  Liberty, Danger, Restriction

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• When I look at American history and I look at what history means to me, I look at it as if it were a string of stories. And if it's told well enough and in a way that's charming and warm and with wit and humor, then it takes a bit of the edge off of it. You can still tell the truth, but if you tell it very sweetly and very warmly, it makes it go down a bit easier.

  Kadir Nelson

  Mean, Telling The Truth, Enough

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

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• At present, the novels which we owe to English ladies form no small part of the literary glory of our country. No class of works is more honorably distinguished for fine observation, by grace, by delicate wit, by pure moral feeling.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Country, Class, Grace

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• A man does not please long when he has only species of wit.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Men, Long, Doe

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• A small degree of wit, accompanied by good sense, is less tiresome in the long run than a great amount of wit without it.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Running, Long, Degrees

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• What an ornament and safeguard is humor! Far better than wit for a poet and writer. It is a genius itself, and so defends from the insanities.

  Walter Scott

  Humor, Insanity, Ornaments

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• A joker is near akin to a buffoon; and neither of them is the least related to wit.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Related, Buffoons

  Lord Chesterfield, David Roberts (2008). “Lord Chesterfield's Letters”, p.141, Oxford University Press

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• A wise man will live as much within his wit as his income.... Bear this truth always in your mind, that you may be admired for your wit, if you have any; but that nothing but good sense and good qualities can make you be loved.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Wise, Men, Mind

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