WIT QUOTES II

quotations about wit

Wit is usually thought rude by its victims.

GARY TAYLOR

Moment by Moment by Shakespeare


We take life too seriously: the office of wit is to correct this tendency.

CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE

Intuitions and Summaries of Thought


The distrust of wit is the beginning of tyranny.

EDWARD ABBEY

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

Tags: Edward Abbey


Every witticism is an inexact thought; that which is perfectly true is imperfectly witty.

WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR

Imaginary Conversations of Greeks and Romans

Tags: Walter Savage Landor


He depended on his mother wit to get him out of any scrape his father ignorance got him into.

STRICKLAND GILLILAN

attributed, 20,000 Quips & Quotes


Brevity is the soul of wit.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Hamlet

Tags: William Shakespeare


Make the doors upon a woman's wit and it will out at the casement; shut that and 'twill out at the key-hole; stop that, 'twill fly with the smoke out at the chimney.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

As You Like It


A man of remarkable genius may afford to pass by a piece of wit, if it happen to border on abuse. A little genius is obliged to catch at every witticism indiscriminately.

WILLIAM SHENSTONE

Essays on Men and Manners


A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit;
How quickly the wrong side may be turned outward!

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Twelfth Night


I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Henry IV, Part II


Don't put too fine a point to your wit for fear it should get blunted.

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES

The Little Gypsy

Tags: Miguel de Cervantes


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

JEAN PETIT

attributed, Day's Collacon


The effect of wit is sometimes so sudden that it almost amounts to a concussion, and most generally excites a disposition to laughter.

HORACE PETERS BIDDLE

A Few Poems


Humor is of earlier growth than Wit, and it is in accordance with this earlier growth that it has more affinity with the poetic tendencies, while Wit is more nearly allied to the ratiocinative intellect. Humor draws its materials from situations and characteristics; Wit seizes on unexpected and complex relations.

GEORGE ELIOT

Essays

Tags: George Eliot


Some of the wit is clumsy and coarse. But sometimes it takes a blunt instrument to make a point.

DAVID PARKINSON

"Catfight Review", Empire Online, March 10, 2017


When you have wit of your own, it's a pleasure to credit other people for theirs.

CRISS JAMI

Killosophy


Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth; it catches.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Much Ado About Nothing


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

WILLIAM PENN

Some Fruits of Solitude


The wittiest man is one who says a good thing, and appears not to know it.

JOHN VAN BUREN

attributed, Day's Collacon


That wit is truly amiable, which gladdens and enlivens every thing, which shines with a lustre gentle, but not faint, and powerful, but not glaring.

JEREMIAH SEED

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