Wit Quotes

Wit is a dangerous weapon, even to the possessor, if he knows not how to use it discreetly.

I'd like to introduce a man with a lot of charm, talent, and wit. Unfortunately, he couldn't be here tonight, so instead . . .

He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit.

The dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.

A fool may scrawl on a slate and if no one has the wit to wipe it clean for a thousand years, the scrawl becomes the wisdom of ages.

When the age is in, the wit is out

Wit is an intermittent fountain; kindness is a perennial spring.

Indeed I had not much wit, yet I was not an idiot - my wit was according to my years.

Wit lies in the likeness of things that are different, and in the difference of things that are alike.

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

If you have wit, use it to please and not to hurt: you may shine like the sun in the temperate zones without scorching.

Styles in wit change so.

Wit is the god of moments, but Genius is the god of ages.

When newspapers are the principal vehicles of the wit and wisdom of a people, the higher graces of composition can hardly be looked for.

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

Being a blockhead is sometimes the best security against being cheated by a man of wit.

The thing that makes our friendships so short and changeable is that the qualities and dispositions of the soul are very hard to know, and those of the understanding and wit very easy.

Unlike some men, I had never drunk for boldness or charm or wit; I had used alcohol for precisely what it was, a depressant to check the mental exhilaration produced by extended sobriety.

Writing, madam, is a mechanic part of wit. A gentleman should never go beyond a song or a billet.

True wit is everlasting, like the sun; describing all men, but described by none.

Wit is a sword; it is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it.

I mean somebody with the wit and the guts to go and do and create. And, that I believe is what education is all about

There is one single fact that one may oppose to all the wit and argument of infidelity; namely, that no man ever repented of being a Christian on his death-bed.

You have a ready wit. Tell me when it's ready.

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.

Wit, like hunger, will be with great difficulty restrained from falling on vice and ignorance, where there is great plenty and variety of food.

The mere wit is only a human bauble. He is to life what bells are to horses-not expected to draw the load, but only to jingle while the horses draw.

'Tis never for their wisdom that one loves the wisest, or for their wit that one loves the wittiest; 'tis for benevolence, and virtue, and honest fondness, one loves people...

When will conventional good manners become attractive? When will ladies of fashion exhibit their shoulders a little less and their affability and wit a little more?

Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure.

When someone has the wit to coin a useful phrase, it ought to be acclaimed and broadcast or it will perish.

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.

There seems almost a general wish of descrying the capacity and undervaluing the labour of the novelist, and of slighting the performances which have only genius, wit, and taste to recommend them.

Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.

How much wit, good-nature, indulgences, how many good offices and civilities, are required among friends to accomplish in some years what a lovely face or a fine hand does in a minute!

I cannot imagine why we should be at the expense to furnish wit for succeeding ages, when the former have made no sort of provision for ours.

For the qualities of sheer wit and humor, Swift had no superior, ancient or modern.

An eastern contemporary, with a grain of wisdom in its wit, says that "when the whites win a fight, it is a victory, and when the Indians win it, it is a massacre."

Vulgarity is no substitute for wit.

There are some men who are witty when they are in a bad humor, and others only when they are sad.

Only just the right quantum of wit should be put into a book; in conversation a little excess is allowable.

A good old man, sir. He will be talking. As they say, when the age is in, the wit is out.

A cheerful temper, joined with innocence will make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful, and wit good-natured.

His jest will savour but of shallow wit, When thousands weep, more than did laugh at it.

Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.

Wit is the fetching of congruity out of incongruity.

Perpetual aiming at wit is a very bad part of conversation. It is done to support a character: it generally fails; it is a sort of insult on the company, and a restraint upon the speaker.

With little wit and ease to suit them, They whirl in narrow circling trails, Like kittens playing with their tails.

From purest wells of English undefiled None deeper drank than he, the New World's Child, Who in the language of their farm field spoke The wit and wisdom of New England folk.

You know, Gilan, sarcasm isn't the lowest form of wit. It's not even wit at all." -Halt