answer (n.)

answer (v.)

Answer a fool according to his folly.

Old Testament: Proverbs xxvi. 5.

Euripides was wont to say, "Silence is an answer to a wise man."

Plutarch (46(?)-120(?) a d): Of Bashfulness.

We will answer all things faithfully.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act v. Sc. 1.

Blow, bugle, blow! set the wild echoes flying!

Blow, bugle! answer, echoes! dying, dying, dying.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): The Princess. Part iii. Line 352.

Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls,

And makes night hideous;—answer him, ye owls!

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Dunciad. Book iii. Line 165.

Answer me in one word.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): As You Like It. Act iii. Sc. 2.

It is not every question that deserves an answer.

Publius Syrus (42 b c): Maxim 581.

A soft answer turneth away wrath.

Old Testament: Proverbs xv. 1.

If they make you not then the better answer, you may say they are not the men you took them for.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Much Ado about Nothing. Act iii. Sc. 3.

Where go the poet's lines?

Answer, ye evening tapers!

Ye auburn locks, ye golden curls,

Speak from your folded papers!

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): The Poet's Lot.