Witticism Quotes

A man of remarkable genius may afford to pass by a piece of wit, if it happens to border on abuse. A little genius is obliged to catch at every witticism indiscriminately. (William Shenstone)
Just as the witticism brings two very different real objects under one concept, the pun brings two different concepts, by the assistance of accident, under one word. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Of all failures, to fail in a witticism is the worst, and the mishap is the more calamitous in a drawn-out and detailed one. View quote
Walter Savage Landor
If you write something wrong enough, I'll be glad to make up a new witticism just for you. View quote
Larry Wall
I saw that my witticism was unperceived and quietly replaced it in the treasury of my mind. View quote
Flann O'Brien
Witticism. A sharp and clever remark, usually quoted and seldom noted; what the Philistine is pleased to call a joke. View quote
Ambrose Bierce
There is neither private property, beyond personal belongings, now, nor buying and selling, and therefore the occasion of nearly all the legislation formerly necessary has passed away. Formerly, society was a pyramid poised on its apex. All the gravitations of human nature were constantly tending to topple it over, and it could be maintained upright, or rather upwrong (if you will pardon the feeble witticism), by an elaborate system of constantly renewed props and buttresses and guy-ropes in the form of laws. A central Congress and forty state legislatures, turning out some twenty thousand laws a year, could not make new props fast enough to take the place of those which were constantly breaking down or becoming ineffectual through some shifting of the strain. Now society rests on its base, and is in as little need of artificial supports as the everlasting hills. View quote
Edward Bellamy
As Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, he had the awesome task of dealing with some unruly scenes. He did so with aplomb and finesse, often with a witticism that helped defuse the situation. View quote
Mohammad Hidayatullah