Discourse

"Sal Atticum."

"Wit is the most rascally, contemptible, beggarly thing on the face of the earth."

"Whose wit, in the combat, as gentle as bright, Ne'er carried a heart-stain away on its blade."

"La raillerie est un discours en faveur de son esprit contre son bon naturel."

"L'impromptu est justement la pierre de touche de l'esprit."

"Nul n'aura de l'esprit, hors nous et nos amis."

"Have you summoned your wits from wool-gathering?"

"Mother Wit. (Nature's mother wit)."

"Medio de fonte leporum Surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat."

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

"A man does not please long when he has only one species of wit."

"Je n'ai jamais d'esprit qu'au bas de l'escalier."

"Wit, like money, bears an extra value when rung down immediately it is wanted. Men pay severely who require credit."

"Wit is the clash and reconcilement of incongruities; the meeting of extremes round a corner."

"At our wittes end."

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

"Les beaux esprits lernen einander durch dergleichen rencontre erkennen."

"Mit wenig Witz und viel Behagen Dreht jeder sich im engen Zirkeltanz Wie junge Katzen mit dem Schwanz."

"Wit will shine Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line."

"Ev'n wit's a burthen, when it talks too long."

"Wit, now and then, struck smartly, shows a spark."

"I am a fool, I know it; and yet, Heaven help me, I'm poor enough to be a wit."

"Don't put too fine a point to your wit for fear it should get blunted."

"Votre esprit en donne aux autres."

"Que les gens d'esprit sont bêtes."

"An ounce of wit is worth a pound of sorrow."

"As in smooth oil the razor best is whet, So wit is by politeness sharpest set; Their want of edge from their offence is seen, Both pain us least when exquisitely keen."

"Against their wills what numbers ruin shun, Purely through want of wit to be undone! Nature has shown by making it so rare, That wit's a jewel which we need not wear."

"Those wits that think they have thee, do very oft prove fools; and I, that am sure I lack thee, may pass for a wise man; for what says Quinapalus? "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.""

"Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike."

"Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting: it is most sharp sauce."

"To leave this keen encounter of our wits, And fall somewhat into a slower method."

"Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth; it catches."

"Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily."

"A good old man, sir: he will be talking, as they say, When the age is in, the wit is out."

"He doth, indeed, show some sparks that are like wit."

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

"To the many, witticisms not only require to be explained, like riddles, but are also like new shoes, which people require to wear many times before they get accustomed to them."

"He must be a dull Fellow indeed, whom neither Love, Malice, nor Necessity, can inspire with Wit."

"This man [Chesterfield] I thought had been a lord among wits; but I find he is only a wit among lords."

"Wit's an unruly engine, wildly striking Sometimes a friend, sometimes the engineer: Hast thou the knack? pamper it not with liking; But if thou want it, buy it not too deare Many affecting wit beyond their power, Have got to be a deare fool for an houre."

"As a wit, if not first, in the very first line."

"Their heads sometimes so little that there is no room for wit; sometimes so long, that there is no wit for so much room."

"Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide."

"His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock, it never is at home."

"Great wits and valours, like great states, Do sometimes sink with their own weights."

"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."

"Aristotle said * * * melancholy men of all others are most witty."

"Essere la natura de' motti cotale, che essi come la pecora morde deono cosi mordere l'uditore, e non come 'l cane: percio che, se come cane mordesse il motto, non sarebbe motto, ma villania."

"WITTICISM, n. A sharp and clever remark, usually quoted, and seldom noted; what the Philistine is pleased to call a "joke.""