Humor e Ironia

Pussy said to the Owl, ‘You elegant fowl!

There was an old man of Thermopylae,

‘How pleasant to know Mr Lear!’

The Dong with a luminous nose.

Far and few, far and few,

There was an Old Man with a beard,

On the coast of Coromandel

Who, or why, or which, or what,

[A pun] is a pistol let off at the ear; not a feather to tickle the intellect.

Your borrowers of books —those mutilators of collections, spoilers of the symmetry of shelves, and creators of odd volumes.

Il faut rire avant que d’être heureux, de peur de mourir sans avoir ri.

It’s hard not to write satire.

A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.

This merriment of parsons is mighty offensive.

Claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero (smiling) must drink brandy.

This man I thought had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords.

I’ll come no more behind your scenes, David; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities.

I am sorry I have not learned to play at cards. It is very useful in life: it generates kindness and consolidates society.

Sir, we are a nest of singing birds.

A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.

Misce stultitiam consiliis brevem:

Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

Words are wise men’s counters, they do but reckon by them: but they are the money of fools, that value them by the authority of an Aristotle, a Cicero, or a Thomas, or any other doctor whatsoever, if but a man.

Laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly.