Great wits and valours, like great states,
Do sometimes sink with their own weights.

Great wits and valours, like great states,
Do sometimes sink with their own weights.

Wit is a sword; it is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it.

Wit is a sword; it is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it.

His wit invites you by his looks to come,
But when you knock, it never is at home.

His wit invites you by his looks to come,
But when you knock, it never is at home.

Wit is the epitaph of an emotion

Wit is the epitaph of an emotion

What silly people wits are!
[Lat., Que les gens d'esprit sont betes.]

What silly people wits are!
[Lat., Que les gens d'esprit sont betes.]

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

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

I am a fool, I know it; and yet, Heaven help me, I'm poor enough
to be a wit.

I am a fool, I know it; and yet, Heaven help me, I'm poor enough
to be a wit.

He who has provoked the shaft of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.

He who has provoked the shaft of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.

We grant, although he had much wit,
H' was very shy of using it,
As being loth read more

We grant, although he had much wit,
H' was very shy of using it,
As being loth to wear it out,
And therefore bore it not about;
Unless on holy days or so,
As men their best apparel do.