Generally speaking there is more wit than talent in this world. Society swarms with witty people who lack talent.
Fine wits destroy themselves with their own plots, in meddling with great affairs of state.
You have a nimble wit; I think it' was made of
Atalanta's heels.
As You Like It. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 292.
Make the doors upon a woman's wit and it
will out at the casement; shut that and 'twill
out at the key-hole; stop that, 'twill fly with the
smoke out at the chimney.
As You Like It. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 162.
Since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief.
Hamlet. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 90.
They have a plentiful lack of wit.
Hamlet. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 201.
I am not only witty in myself, but the cause
that wit is in other men.
Henry IV. Pt. II. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 11.
Rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach to digest his words,
With better appetite.
Julius Caesar. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 304.
His eye begets occasion for his wit;
For every object that the one doth catch,
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest.
Love's Labour's Lost. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 69.
Your wit's too hot, it speeds too fast, 'twill tire.
Love's Labour's Lost. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 120.
Great men may jest with saints; 'tis wit in them;
But, in the less, foul profanation.
He doth, indeed, show some sparks that are like wit.
A good old man, sir: he will be talking, as
they say, When the age is in, the wit is out.
Much Ado About Nothing. Act III. Sc. 5. L. 36.
Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily.
Much Ado About Nothing. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 159.
Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth;
it catches.
Much Ado About Nothing. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 11.
WIT 885
To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
And fall somewhat into a slower method.
Richard III. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 115.
Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting: it is most sharp sauce.
Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit; by
and by it will strike.
Act II. Sc. 1. L. 12.
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."
Twelfth Night. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 37.
Man could direct his ways by plain reason, and support his life by tasteless food; but God has given us wit, and flavour, and brightness, and laughter, and perfumers, to enliven the days of man's pilgrimage, and to "charm his pained steps over the burning marie."
Sydney Smith—Dangers and Advantages of Wit.
Surprise is so essential an ingredient of wit
that no wit will bear repetition;—at least the
original electrical feeling produced by any piece
of wit can never be renewed.
Sydney Smith—Lectures on Moral Philosophy,
No. 10. .
One wit, like a knuckle of ham in soup, gives
% zest and flavour to the dish, but more than
one serves only to spoil the pottage.
Smollett—Humphrey Clinker.
Wit consists in knowing the resemblance of
things which differ, and the difference of things
which are alike.
Madame de Staël—Germany. Pt. III. Ch. VIII.
It is having in some measure a sort of wit to know how to use the wit of others.
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text =
It is with wits as with razors, which are never
so apt to cut those they are employed on as
when they have lost their edge.
Swift—Tale of a Tub: Author's Preface.
| seealso = (See also Young, also Montagu under Satire)
Too much wit makes the world rotten.
And wit its honey lent, without the sting.
He had too thoughtful a wit: like a penknife
in too narrow a sheath, too sharp for his body
Izaak Walton—Life of George Herbert. Eeported as Herbert's saying about himself.
