Wit Quotes

They make their fortune who are stout and wise, Wit rules the heavens, discretion guides the skies. [Lat., Che sovente addivien che'l saggio e'l forte. Fabro a se stesso e di beata sorte.]

There is nothing so unready as readiness of wit.

It is many times with a fraudulent Design that men stick their corrupt Doctrine with the Cloves of other mens Wit.

It is the wit and policy of sin to hate those we have abused.

An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of cleverness.

[On Thomas Seymour's death:] This day died a man of much wit and very little judgment.

We prefer a person with vivacity and high spirits, though bordering upon insolence, to the timid and pusillanimous; we are fonder of wit joined to malice than of dullness without it.

Sometimes we meet a fool with wit, never one with discretion.

Go, little book, and wish to all Flowers in the garden, meat in the hall, A bin of wine, a spice of wit, A house with lawns enclosing it, A living river by the door, A nightingale in the sycamore!

For all of us, self-briefing before going out or starting a project sharpens artistic wit.

He who will lose a present good for one in expectation hath some wit, but a small store of wisdom.

It is one of the triumphs of human wit ... to conquer by humility and submissiveness ... to make oneself small in order to appear great ... such ... are often the expedients of the neurotic.

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

Two goddesses now must Cyprus adore; The Muses are ten, and the Graces are four; Stella's wit is so charming, so sweet her fair face, She shines a new Venus, a Muse, and a Grace.

The quality of wit inspires more admiration than confidence

Tennis: the most perfect combination of athleticism, artistry, power, style, and wit. A beautiful game, but one so remorselessly travestied by the passage of time.

I get the impression the English kings were witty, for some reason. I feel like all you had was your wit.

Wit lies in recognizing the resemblance among things which differ and the difference between things which are alike.

For the thinker the world is a thought; for the wit, an image; for the enthusiast, a dream; for the inquirer, truth.

It is no great advantage to possess a quick wit, if it is not correct; the perfection is not speed but uniformity.

Great men may jest with saints; 'tis wit in them; But, in the less foul profanation.

New technologies make it possible for even the mass marketer to assume the role of a small proprietor, doing business again wit individuals, one at a time.

I have wit in my work and a sense of humor, but I do not use irony in any way

The great charm of conversation consists less in the display of one's own wit and intelligence than in the power to draw forth the resources of others.

The small amount of foolery wise men have makes a great show.

Wit is the lowest form of humor.

Where might is mixed with wit, there is too good an accord in a government.

So vast is art, so narrow human wit.

The flesh is sad, alas, and I have read all the books.

Wit seduces by signaling intelligence without nerdiness.

Digression is the soul of wit. Take the philosophic asides away from Dante, Milton or Hamlet's father's ghost and what stays is dry bones.

Wit is a weapon. Jokes are a masculine way of inflicting superiority. But humor is the pursuit of a gentle grin, usually in solitude.

O Fortune, how thy restless, wavering state has fraught with cares my troubled wit!

The best prophet is common sense, our native wit.

Generosity without delicacy, like wit without judgment, generally gives as much pain as pleasure.

Drunkenness is the very sepulcher Of man's wit and his discretion.

Laugh not too much; the witty man laughs least: For wit is news only to ignorance. Lesse at thine own things laugh; lest in the jest Thy person share, and the conceit advance.

Good-humor will even go so far as often to supply the lack of wit.

For as the body grows old, so the wits grow old and become blind towards all things alike.

Depending upon shock tactics is easy, whereas writing a good play is difficult. Pubic hair is no substitute for wit.

Good similes depend upon close observation. They depend upon brevity and wit....They have to fit in context.

Wisdom is better than wit, and in the long run will certainly have the laugh on her side.

But methings wit is more necessary than beauty; and I think no young woman ugly that has it, and no handsome woman agreeable without it

As we celebrate President Reagan's remarkable career and historic legacy, we also celebrate a man of strong character, deep conviction, unforgettable charm, and wonderful wit.

The impromptu reply is precisely the touchstone of the man of wit.

Unhappy is that Grandeur which makes us too great to be good; and that Wit which sets us at a distance from true Wisdom.

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.

One science only will one genius fit; so vast is art, so narrow human wit.

A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits.

Genuine and innocent wit is surely the very flavor of the mind.