Fine wits destroy themselves with their own plots, in meddling with great affairs of state.
Funny Quotes
Funny is a tone rather than a subject, and the older writers do better in it than you might expect. Shakespeare has the most entries, followed by Alexander Pope, with Swift, Thomas Fuller and Will Rogers not far behind. Some of the oldest jokes here are still the best: the critic John Dennis, quoted in a magazine in 1781, said that a man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket.
There is also some more recent material. Jon Stewart’s remark about comedy being tragedy plus time, from The Daily Show in 1999, is here with its language intact. Two lines are flagged as misattributed: Pope’s couplet about knocking on a head with nobody at home, and the one about jesters proving prophets, credited to Joseph Addison.
He must be a dull Fellow indeed, whom neither Love, Malice, nor Necessity, can inspire with Wit.
Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike.
Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet
To run amuck and tilt at all I meet.
Raillery is a mode of speaking in favor of one's wit at the expense of one's better nature.