The witty woman is a tragic figure in American life. Wit destroys eroticism and eroticism destroys wit, so women must choose between taking lovers and taking no prisoners.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Wit in women is apt to have bad consequences; like a sword without a scabbard, it wounds the wearer and provokes assailants.
Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
To be witty is not enough. One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it.
Generally speaking, there is more wit than talent in the world. Society swarms with witty people who lack talent.
Wit is so shining a quality that everybody admires it; most people aim at it, all people fear it, and few love it unless in themselves. A man must have a good share of wit himself to endure a great share of it in another.
There is certainly a higher percentage of wit in British comedy than in American comedy. What always tickles me is the way in which people try to use their intellect to get themselves out of tricky situations but never quite manage to do so - much to their enormous embarrassment.
If there's ever a woman who's smart, funny, or witty, people are afraid of that, so they don't write that. They only write parts for women where they let everything be steamrolled over them, where they let people wipe their feet all over them.
No woman can be handsome by the force of features alone, any more that she can be witty by only the help of speech.
A witty woman is a treasure; a witty beauty is a power.
Wit is the appearance, the external flash of imagination. Thus its divinity, and the witty character of mysticism.