If you have wit, use it to please and not to hurt: you may shine like the sun in the temperate zones without scorching.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
There’s a helluva distance between wisecracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
I definitely did look up to John. We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader; he was the quickest wit and the smartest.
—Paul McCartney (b.1942) English Pop Singer, Songwriter
Comedy has to be done en clair. You can’t blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.
—James Thurber
Punning is a conceit arising from the use of two words that agree in the sound, but differ in the sense. The only way, therefore, to try a piece of wit, is to translate it into a different language; if it bears the test, you may pronounce it true; but if it vanishes in the experiment, you may conclude it to have been a pun.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
For my own part I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed: and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.
—James Boswell (1740–95) Scottish Biographer, Diarist
Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which, before their union, were not perceived to have any relation.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Wit is a treacherous dart. It is perhaps the only weapon with which it is possible to stab oneself in one’s own back.
—Geoffrey Bocca (1924–83) British Journalist, Biographer
Wit lies in recognizing the resemblance among things which differ and the difference between things which are alike.
—Anne Louise Germaine de Stael (1766–1817) French Woman of Letters
At twenty years of age the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
It is a sad thing when men have neither the wit to speak well, nor judgment to hold their tongues.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
A wit should be no more sincere than a woman constant.
—William Congreve (1670–1729) English Playwright, Poet
Humor does not include sarcasm, invalid irony, sardonicism, innuendo, or any other form of cruelty. When these things are raised to a high point they can become wit, but unlike the French and the English, we have not been much good at wit since the days of Benjamin Franklin.
—James Thurber
A fine quotation is a diamond on the finger of a man of wit, and a pebble in the hand of a fool.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (1780–1854) French Surgeon
In conversation, humor is more than wit, and easiness more than knowledge. Few desire to learn, or think they need it.—All desire to be pleased, or at least to be easy.
—William Temple (1881–1944) English Theologian, Archbishop
People who can’t be witty exert themselves to be devout and affectionate.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
He’s winding up the watch of his wit. By and by it will strike.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Wit should be used as a shield for defence rather than as a sword to wound others.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Sometimes we are inclined to class those who are once-and-a-half witted with the half-witted, because we appreciate only a third part of their wit.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Some people seem born with a head in which the thin partition than divides great wit from folly is wanting.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
He is winding the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
There are heads sometimes so little, that there is no room for wit, sometimes so long that there is no wit for so much room.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Confidence contributes more to conversation than wit.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Where judgment has wit to express it, there is the best orator.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Philosopher, Political Leader
Humor is consistent with pathos, whilst wit is not.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Repartee is what you wish you’d said.
—Heywood Broun (1888–1939) American Journalist
Flattery is never so agreeable as to our blind side; commend a fool for his wit, or a knave for his honesty, and they will receive you into their bosoms.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
Better the fragrant herb of wit and a little cream of affability than all the pretty cups in the world.
—Van Wyck Brooks (1886–1963) American Historian, Critic
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