quotations about wit
Wit is a form of force that leaves the limbs at rest.
GEORGE ELIOT
Felix Holt
Wit will shine
Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line.
JOHN DRYDEN
To the Memory of Mr. Oldham
This pleasant aspect of wit is almost the opposite of satire and may be found in any kind of character: according to Congreve, 'from a witty man they are expected and even a fool may be permitted to stumble on 'em by chance'.
BART VAN ES
Shakespeare's Comedies: A Very Short Introduction
It is inconceivable how much wit it requires to avoid being ridiculous.
SEBASTIEN ROCH NICOLAS CHAMFORT
attributed, Day's Collacon
Wit is brushwood; judgment, timber; the one gives the greatest flame, the other yields the most durable heat; and both meeting make the best fire.
THOMAS OVERBURY
The Miscellaneous Works in Verse and Prose of Sir Thomas Overbury
Sharp wits, like sharp knives, do often cut their owner's fingers.
JOHN ARROWSMITH
Armilla Catechetica: A Chain of Principles
Wit is brief and sudden, and sharply defined as a crystal; it does not make pictures, it is not fantastic; but it detects an unsuspected analogy or suggests a startling or confounding inference. Every one who has had the opportunity of making the comparison will remember the effect produced on him by some witticisms is closely akin to the effect produced on him by subtle reasoning which lays open a fallacy or absurdity, and there are persons whose delight in such reasoning always manifests itself in laughter.
GEORGE ELIOT
Essays
Wit is not fed, but sharpened with applause; For wealth is solid food, and wit but hungry sauce.
JOHN DRYDEN
Love Triumphant
Real wit is shown in language. We need language.
MAYA ANGELOU
The Paris Review, fall 1990
As the sea-crab swimmeth always against the stream, so doth wit always against wisdom.
PYTHAGORAS
attributed, Day's Collacon