Of manners gentle, of affections mild;

In wit a man, simplicity a child.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Epitaph on Gay.

Enjoy your dear wit and gay rhetoric,

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence.

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 790.

The picture placed the busts between

Adds to the thought much strength;

Wisdom and Wit are little seen,

But Folly's at full length.

Jane Brereton (1685-1740): On Beau Nash's Picture at full length between the Busts of Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Pope.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act ii. Sc. 2.

But let a lord once own the happy lines,

How the wit brightens! how the style refines!

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 220.

We spent them not in toys, in lusts, or wine,

But search of deep philosophy,

Wit, eloquence, and poetry;

Arts which I lov'd, for they, my friend, were thine.

Abraham Cowley (1618-1667): On the Death of Mr. William Harvey.

Enjoy your dear wit and gay rhetoric,

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence.

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 790.

In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow,

Thou 'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow,

Hast so much wit and mirth and spleen about thee,

There is no living with thee, nor without thee.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): Spectator. No. 68.

Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Elegy on Mrs. Killegrew. Line 70.

He knew what's what, and that's as high

As metaphysic wit can fly.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 149.

What things have we seen

Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been

So nimble and so full of subtile flame

As if that every one from whence they came

Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,

And resolved to live a fool the rest

Of his dull life.

William Drummond (1585-1649): Letter to Ben Jonson.

Whose wit in the combat, as gentle as bright,

Ne'er carried a heart-stain away on its blade.

Thomas Moore (1779-1852): On the Death of Sheridan.

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

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): Retaliation. Line 96.

His wit invites you by his looks to come,

But when you knock, it never is at home.

William Cowper (1731-1800): Conversation. Line 303.

A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod;

An honest man's the noblest work of God.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 247.

'T is an old maxim in the schools,

That flattery's the food of fools;

Yet now and then your men of wit

Will condescend to take a bit.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Cadenus and Vanessa.

Accept a miracle instead of wit,—

See two dull lines with Stanhope's pencil writ.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Lines written with the Diamond Pencil of Lord Chesterfield.

I hold a mouses wit not worth a leke,

That hath but on hole for to sterten to.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400): Canterbury Tales. The Wif of Bathes Prologue. Line 6154.

We grant, although he had much wit,

He was very shy of using it.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 45.

True wit is Nature to advantage dress'd,

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 97.

The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,

Moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

Omar Khayyam (1048-1131): Rubáiyát. Stanza lxxi.

They have a plentiful lack of wit.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act ii. Sc. 2.

What things have we seen

Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been

So nimble and so full of subtile flame

As if that every one from whence they came

Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,

And resolved to live a fool the rest

Of his dull life.

William Drummond (1585-1649): Letter to Ben Jonson.

There's a skirmish of wit between them.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Much Ado about Nothing. Act i. Sc. 1.

One science only will one genius fit:

So vast is art, so narrow human wit.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Criticism. Part i. Line 60.

Nor sequent centuries could hit

Orbit and sum of Shakespeare's wit.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882): Solution.

Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 333.

There still remains to mortify a wit

The many-headed monster of the pit.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 304.

Who, born for the universe, narrow'd his mind,

And to party gave up what was meant for mankind;

Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throat

To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote.

Who too deep for his hearers still went on refining,

And thought of convincing while they thought of dining:

Though equal to all things, for all things unfit;

Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): Retaliation. Line 31.

You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come;

Knock as you please, there's nobody at home.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Epigram.

Wit will shine

Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line.

John Dryden (1631-1701): To the Memory of Mr. Oldham. Line 15.

And wine can of their wits the wise beguile,

Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Odyssey of Homer. Book xiv. Line 520.

Though I am young, I scorn to flit

On the wings of borrowed wit.

George Wither (1588-1667): The Shepherd's Hunting.

A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 90.