A Quote by Christian Nestell Bovee

Satire is an abuse of wit. It corrects few evils.

Christian Nestell Bovee

Quote Topics

Abuse Evils Few Satire Wit

Quote Author

Christian Nestell Bovee
American - Author
February 22, 1820 - January 18, 1904

A little wit and a great deal of ill-nature will furnish a man for satire; but the greatest instance of wit is to commend well.

John Tillotson

By wit we search divine aspect above, By wit we learn what secrets science yields, By wit we speak, by wit the mind is rul'd, By wit we govern all our actions; Wit is the loadstar of each human thought, Wit is the tool by which all things are wrought.

Robert Greene

Gentle mockery or sharp satire aimed at Christians and their leaders have been replaced by abuse of Christianity itself.

Ann Widdecombe

A college of wit-crackers cannot flout me out of my humor. Dost thou think I care for a satire or an epigram?

William Shakespeare

[I]t is true that [the provisions of the Bill of Rights] were designed to meet ancient evils. But they are the same kind of human evils that have emerged from century to century whenever excessive power is sought by the few at the expense of the many.

Hugo Black

Comedy has to be done en clair. You can't blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.

James Thurber

The birch is used only out of bad temper and weakness, for the birch is a servile punishment which degrades the soul even when it corrects, if indeed it corrects, for its usual effect is to harden.

Jean-Baptiste de La Salle

Satire is at once the most agreeable and most dangerous of mental qualities. It always pleases when it is refined, but we always fear those who use it too much; yet satire should be allowed when unmixed with spite, and when the person satirized can join in the satire.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The evils of the body are murder, theft, and adultery; of the tongue, lying, slander, abuse and idle talk; of the mind, covetousness, hatred and error.

Gautama Buddha

Wit is artificial; humor is natural. Wit is accidental; humor is inevitable. Wit is born of conscious effort; humor, of the allotted ironies of fate. Wit can be expressed only in language; humor can be developed sufficiently in situation.

Agnes Repplier

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.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

What makes Jessica Jones series so unique is that it really is an allegory for many different types of abuse, whether it be sexual abuse, physical abuse, or psychological abuse. That's what makes this such an incredibly bold show.

Rachael Taylor

Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils, but present evils triumph over it.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Rush Limbaugh's pathetic abuse of logic, his absurd pomposity, his relentless self-promotion, his ridiculous ego - now those, friends, are appropriate targets for satire.