Wit & Wisdom

From Mark Twain, Albert Camus, Anne Sophie Swetchine, William Gibbs McAdoo, Charles Caleb Colton, Quentin Crisp

“We are all stupid, just on different subjects.”

Mark Twain, quoted in The Australian

“Charm is a way of getting the answer ‘yes’ without asking a clear question.”

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Albert Camus, quoted in the Johannesburg Business Day

“In youth we feel richer for every new illusion; in maturer years, for every one we lose.”

Author Anne Sophie Swetchine, quoted in The Boston Globe

“It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.”

U.S. politician William Gibbs McAdoo, quoted in the Associated Press

“Men are born with two eyes, but only one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say.”

Aphorist Charles Caleb Colton, quoted in The Book Reporter

“Describe things as better than they are and you’ll be called a romantic; describe them as worse than they are and they’ll call you a realist; describe them exactly as they are and you’ll be thought of as a satirist.”

Novelist Quentin Crisp, quoted in the Hobart, Australia, Mercury

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