Quotes
Quotes about Wit
The stately-sailing swan Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale; And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier isle, Protective of his young.
I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.
So soon as ever thou seest him, draw; and as thou draw'st, swear horrible; for it comes to pass oft that a terrible oath, with a swaggering accent sharply twanged off, gives manhood more approbation than ever proof itself would have earned him.
"He shall not die, by God," cried by uncle Toby. The Accusing Spirit which flew up to heaven's chancery with the oath, blushed as he gave it in: and the Recording Angel as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it out forever.
Instead of dirt and poison, we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light.
You may see me, fat and shining, with well-cared for hide, . . . a hog from Epicurus' herd. [Lat., Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute vises, . . . Epicuri de grege porcum.]
Then on the grounde Togyder rounde With manye a sadde stroke, They roll and rumble, They turne and tumble, As pigges do in a poke.
How instinct varies in the grov'lling swine, Compar'd, half-reasoning elephant, with thine! 'Twixt that and reason what a nice barrier! Forever sep'rate, yet forever near!
Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength not my weakness.
But there is one thing which we are responsible for, and that is for our sympathies, for the manner in which we regard it, and for the tone in which we discuss it. What shall we say, then, with regard to it? On which side shall we stand?
There is in souls a sympathy with sounds.
Our souls sit close and silently within, And their own web from their own entrails spin; And when eyes meet far off, our sense is such, That, spider like, we feel the tenderest touch.
The man who melts With social sympathy, though not allied, Is more worth than a thousand kinsmen.
We pine for kindred natures To mingle with our own.
For I no sooner in my heart divin'd My heart, which by a secret harmony Still moves with thine, joined in connection sweet.
If thou art something bring thy soul and interchange with mine. - Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller,
Tact is the ability to make a person see lightning without letting him feel the bolt.
Don't flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become.
Without tact you can learn nothing.
'Tis not the robe or garment I affect; For who would marry with a suit of clothes?
As if thou e'er wert angry But with thy tailor! and yet that poor shred Can bring more to the making up of a man, Than can be hoped from thee; thou art his creature; And did he not, each morning, new create thee, Thou'dst stink and be forgotten.
All his reverend wit Lies in his wardrobe.
The crowning blessing of lifeâto be born with a bias to some pursuit.
But still his tongue ran on, the less Of weight it bore, with greater ease.
With vollies of eternal babble.
