Quotes about wit

"Wit is educated insolence."

Aristotle on wit
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"Melancholy men are of all others the most witty."

Aristotle on wit
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"Wit. The salt with which the American humorist spoils his intellectual cookery by leaving it out."

Bierce, Ambrose on wit   

"The banalities of a great man pass for wit."

Chase, Alexander on wit   

"Wit is so shining a quality that everybody admires it; most people aim at it, all people fear it, and few love it unless in themselves. A man must have a good share of wit himself to endure a great share of it in another."

Chesterfield, Lord on wit   

"A wise man will live as much within his wit as within his income."

Chesterfield, Lord on wit   

"Humor is consistent with pathos, whilst wit is not."

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor on wit   

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

Coward, Noel on wit   

"A man renowned for repartee will seldom scruple to make free with friendship's finest feeling, will thrust a dagger at your breast, and say he wounded you in jest, by way of balm for healing."

Cowper, William on wit   

"People who can't be witty exert themselves to be devout and affectionate."

Eliot, George on wit
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"Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no learning, no force of character, can make any stand against good wit."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on wit   

"Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food."

Hazlitt, William on wit
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"He who has provoked the shaft of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it."

Johnson, Samuel on wit   

"The witty woman is a tragic figure in American life. Wit destroys eroticism and eroticism destroys wit, so women must choose between taking lovers and taking no prisoners."

King, Florence on wit   

"In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers."

Lucretius on wit   

"Avoid witicisms at the expense of others."

Mann, Horace on wit   

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

Maurois, Andre on wit   

"Wit is the epitaph of an emotion."

Nietzsche, Friedrich on wit
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"Wit is brushwood; judgment timber; the one gives the greatest flame, and the other yields the most durable heat; and both meeting make the best fire."

Overlung on wit   

"Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words."

Parker, Dorothy on wit
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"There's a helluva distance between wisecracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words."

Parker, Dorothy on wit   

"Brevity is the body and soul of wit."

Paul, Jean on wit   

"Witticisms please as long as we keep them within boundaries, but pushed to excess they cause offense."

Phaedrus on wit   

"True wit is nature to advantage dressed, what oft was thought, but never so well expressed."

Pope, Alexander on wit   

"He's winding up the watch of his wit. By and by it will strike."

Shakespeare, William on wit
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"Wit lies in recognizing the resemblance among things which differ and the difference between things which are alike."

Stael, Germaine De on wit   

"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."

Thoreau, Henry David on wit   

"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."

Thurber, James on wit   

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

Twain, Mark on wit   

"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."

Twain, Mark on wit   

"Wit is more often a shield than a lance."

Unknown, Source on wit   

"Wit is the only wall between us and the dark."

Van Doren, Mark on wit   

"You can make a sordid thing sound like a brilliant drawing-room comedy. Probably a fear we have of facing up to the real issues. Could you say we were guilty of Noel Cowardice?"

Vries, Peter De on wit