William Shakespeare - John Dryden - Alexander Pope - Dorothy Parker - Philip Sidney - J K Rowling - Aristotle - Friedrich Nietzsche - Mark Twain - Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel - James Boswell - Michel de Montaigne - Philip Stanhope - W Somerset Maugham - Madame de Stael - Samuel Butler - John Heywood - Kazuo Ishiguro -
Away with scrupulous wit! Now arms must rule. William Shakespeare, Richard Duke of York IV viii 61, Hastings
Thy wit is very bitter sweeting, it is a most sharp sauce. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet II ii 74-75, Mercutio to Romeo.
I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men. William Shakespeare, II Henry IV I ii 10
A good wit will make use of anything. I will turn diseases to commodity. William Shakespeare, II Henry IV I ii 249-250, Sir John to Page
Brevity is the soul of wit. William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Polonius to King & Queen, II ii 90
He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit. William Shakespeare, As You Like It V iv 112
Those wits that think they have thee do very oft prove fools. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night I v 30-31, Feste
Thou hast pared thy wit o’ both sides and left nothing in the middle. William Shakespeare, The History of King Lear I iv 178-179, Fool
Wit shall not go unrewarded while I am king of this country. William Shakespeare, The Tempest IV I 241, Stefano
Wit will shine
Through an English subject’s sole prerogative. John Dryden
A thing well said will be wit in all languages. John Dryden, An Essay of Dramatic Poesy, 1668
Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide. John Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel I:163
You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come:
Knock as you please, there’s nobody at home. Alexander Pope
For wit and judgment often are at strife,
Though meant each other’s aid, like man and wife. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism l82
Great wits may sometimes gloriously offend,
And rise to faults true critics dare not mend.
From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part
And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art. ibid.
True wit is nature to advantage dress’d,
What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed. ibid.
There’s a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words. Dorothy Parker
I am no pick-purse of another’s wit. Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella, 1591
Wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure. J K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Wit is educated insolence. Aristotle
Wit is the epitaph of an emotion. Friedrich Nietzsche
Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which, before their union, were not perceived to have any relation. Mark Twain
Wit is the appearance, the external flash of imagination. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
Wit as an instrument of revenge is as infamous as art is as a means of sensual titillation. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
Wit is an explosion of the compound spirit. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it. James Boswell
Wit is a dangerous weapon, even to the possessor, if he knows not how to use it discreetly. Michel de Montaigne
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. Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
The banalities of a great man pass for wit. Alexander Chase
Impropriety is the soul of wit. W Somerset Maugham
Wit consists in knowing the resemblance of things that differ, and the difference of things that are alike. Madame de Stael
We grant, although he had much wit,
H’ was very shy of using it,
As being loth to wear it out,
And therefore bore it not about;
Unless on holy days or so,
As men their best apparel do. Samuel Butler, Hudibras I I:45
Great wits and valours, like great states,
Do sometimes sink with their own weights. ibid. II I:269
At our wittes end. John Heywood, Proverbs
But this small episode is as good an illustration as any of the hazards of uttering witticisms. By the very nature of a witticism, one is given very little time to assess its various possible repercussions before one is called to give voice to it, and one gravely risks uttering all manner of unsuitable things if one has not first acquired the necessary skill and experience. Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day