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

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Wit Is Artificial; Humor

Agnes Repplier

Topic

Humor

Fate

Effort

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The Pessimist Is Seldom An Agitating Individual. His Creed Breeds Indifference To Others, And He Does Not Trouble Himself To Thrust His Views Upon The Unconvinced.

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A Kitten Is Chiefly Remarkable For Rushing About Like Mad At Nothing Whatever And Generally Stopping Before It Gets There.

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Like Simplicity And Candor, And Other Much-commented Qualities, Enthusiasm Is Charming Until We Meet It Face To Face, And Cannot Escape From Its Charm.

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Bargaining Is Essential To The Life Of The World; But Nobody Has Ever Claimed That It Is An Ennobling Process.

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The Well-ordered Mind Knows The Value, No Less Than The Charm, Of Reticence. The Fruit Of The Tree Of Knowledge ... Falls Ripe From Its Stem; But Those Who Have Eaten With Sobriety Find No Need To Discuss The Processes Of Digestion.

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The Tourist May Complain Of Other Tourists; But He Would Be Lost Without Them. He May Find Them In His Way, Taking Up The Best Seats In The Motors, And The Best Tables In The Hotel Dining-rooms; But He Grows Amazingly Intimate With Them During The Voyage, And Not Infrequently Marries One Of Them When It Is Over.

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Wit Is A Pleasure-giving Thing, Largely Because It Eludes Reason; But In The Apprehension Of An Absurdity Through The Working Of The Comic Spirit There Is A Foundation Of Reason, And An Impetus To Human Companionship.

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The Carefully Fostered Theory That Schoolwork Can Be Made Easy And Enjoyable Breaks Down As Soon As Anything, However Trivial, Has To Be Learned.

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The Impulse To Travel Is One Of The Hopeful Symptoms Of Life.

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The Most Comfortable Characteristic Of The Period [1775-1825], And The One Which Incites Our Deepest Envy, Is The Universal Willingness To Accept A Good Purpose As A Substitute For Good Work.

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English Civilization Rests Largely Upon Tea And Cricket, With Mighty Spurts Of Enjoyment On Derby Day, And At Newmarket.

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Discussion Without Asperity, Sympathy With Fusion, Gayety Unracked By Too Abundant Jests, Mental Ease In Approaching One Another; These Are The Things Which Give A Pleasant Smoothness To The Rough Edge Of Life.

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Whereas The Dog Strives To Lessen The Distance Between Himself And Man, Seeks Ever To Be Intelligent And Intelligible, And Translates Into Looks And Actions The Words He Cannot Speak, The Cat Dwells Within The Circle Of Her Own Secret Thoughts.

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The Human Race May Be Divided Into People Who Love Cats And People Who Hate Them; The Neutrals Being Few In Numbers, And, For Intellectual And Moral Reasons, Not Worth Considering.

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A Man Who Listens Because He Has Nothing To Say Can Hardly Be A Source Of Inspiration. The Only Listening That Counts Is That Of The Talker Who Alternately Absorbs And Expresses Ideas.

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Our Belief In Education Is Unbounded, Our Reverence For It Is Unfaltering, Our Loyalty To It Is Unshaken By Reverses. Our Passionate Desire, Not So Much To Acquire It As To Bestow It, Is The Most Animated Of American Traits.

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It Has Been Well Said That Tea Is Suggestive Of A Thousand Wants, From Which Spring The Decencies And Luxuries Of Civilization.

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It Was Hard To Speed The Male Child Up The Stony Heights Of Erudition, But It Was Harder Still To Check The Female Child At The Crucial Point, And Keep Her Tottering Decorously Behind Her Brother.

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The Universality Of A Custom Is Pledge Of Its Worth.

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The Necessity Of Knowing A Little About A Great Many Things Is The Most Grievous Burden Of Our Day. It Deprives Us Of Leisure On The One Hand, And Of Scholarship On The Other.

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If We Could Make Up Our Minds To Spare Our Friends All Details Of Ill Health, Of Money Losses, Of Domestic Annoyances, Of Altercations, Of Committee Work, Of Grievances, Provocations, And Anxieties, We Should Sin Less Against The World's Good-humor. It May Not Be Given Us To Add To The Treasury Of Mirth; But There Is Considerable Merit In Not Robbing It.

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History Is, And Has Always Been Trameled By Facts. It May Ignore Some And Deny Others; But It Cannot Accommodate Itself Unreservedly To Theories; It Cannot Be Stripped Of Things Evidenced In Favor Of Things Surmised.

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I Do Strive To Think Well Of My Fellow Man, But No Amount Of Striving Can Give Me Confidence In The Wisdom Of A Congressional Vote.

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Too Much Rigidity On The Part Of Teachers Should Be Followed By A Brisk Spirit Of Insubordination On The Part Of The Taught.

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There Is A Vast Deal Of Make-believe In The Carefully Nurtured Sentiment For Country Life, And The Barefoot Boy, And The Mountain Girl.

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Humor Brings Insight And Tolerance. Irony Brings A Deeper And Less Friendly Understanding.

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There Are Few Nudities So Objectionable As The Naked Truth.

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Cats, Even When Robust, Have Scant Liking For The Boisterous Society Of Children, And Are Apt To Exert Their Utmost Ingenuity To Escape It. Nor Are They Without Adult Sympathy In Their Prejudice.

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To Be Brave In Misfortune Is To Be Worthy Of Manhood; To Be Wise In Misfortune Is To Conquer Fate.

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If A Man Be Discreet Enough To Take To Hard Drinking In His Youth, Before His General Emptiness Is Ascertained, His Friends Invariably Credit Him With A Host Of Shining Qualities Which, We Are Given To Understand, Lie Balked And Frustrated By His One Unfortunate Weakness.

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While Art May Instruct As Well As Please, It Can Nevertheless Be True Art Without Instructing, But Not Without Pleasing.

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Thinking

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It Is Not Depravity That Afflicts The Human Race So Much As A General Lack Of Intelligence.

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Depravity

There Are People Who Balk At Small Civilities On Account Of Their Manifest Insincerity. ... It Is Better And More Logical To Accept All The Polite Phraseology Which Facilitates Intercourse, And Contributes To The Sweetness Of Life. If We Discarded The Formal Falsehoods Which Are The Currency Of Conversation, We Should Not Be One Step Nearer The Vital Things Of Truth.

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Travel

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Desire

There Are Few Things More Wearisome In A Fairly Fatiguing Life Than The Monotonous Repetition Of A Phrase Which Catches And Holds The Public Fancy By Virtue Of Its Total Lack Of Significance.

Fancy

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There Is Nothing In The World So Incomprehensible As The Joke We Do Not See.

World

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Why Do So Many Ingenious Theorists Give Fresh Reasons Every Year For The Decline Of Letter Writing, And Why Do They Assume, In Derision Of Suffering Humanity, That It Has Declined? They Lament The Lack Of Leisure, The Lack Of Sentiment ... They Talk Of Telegrams, And Telephones, And Postal Cards, As If Any Discovery Of Science, Any Device Of Civilization, Could Eradicate From The Human Heart That Passion For Self-expression Which Is The Impelling Force Of Letters.

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Next To The Joy Of The Egotist Is The Joy Of The Detractor.

Joy

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Laughter Springs From The Lawless Part Of Our Nature.

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A Kitten Is The Most Irresistible Comedian In The World. Its Wide-open Eyes Gleam With Wonder And Mirth. It Darts Madly At Nothing At All, And Then, As Though Suddenly Checked In The Pursuit, Prances Sideways On Its Hind Legs With Ridiculous Agility And Zeal.

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An Historian Without Political Passions Is As Rare As A Wasp Without A Sting.

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Just As We Are Often Moved To Merriment For No Other Reason Than That The Occasion Calls For Seriousness, So We Are Correspondingly Serious When Invited Too Freely To Be Amused.

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Children

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It Is Not Begging But The Beggar, Who Has Forfeited Favor With The Elect.

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Uplifting

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Cities

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Habit

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Sky

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It Has Been Wisely Said That We Cannot Really Love Anybody At Whom We Never Laugh.

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Achievement

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The Most Charming Thing About Youth Is The Tenacity Of Its Impressions.

Youth

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It Is Impossible For A Lover Of Cats To Banish These Alert, Gentle, And Discriminating Friends, Who Give Us Just Enough Of Their Regard And Complaisance To Make Us Hunger For More.

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Past

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Trials

The Age Of Credulity Is Every Age The World Has Ever Known. Men Have Always Turned From The Ascertained, Which Is Limited And Discouraging, To The Dubious, Which Is Unlimited And Full Of Hope For Everybody.

Men

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Whatever Has "wit Enough To Keep It Sweet" Defies Corruption And Outlasts All Time; But The Wit Must Be Of That Outward And Visible Order Which Needs No Introduction Or Demonstration At Our Hands.

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No Rural Community, No Suburban Community, Can Ever Possess The Distinctive Qualities That City Dwellers Have For Centuries Given To The World.

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Quality

The Labors Of The True Critic Are More Essential To The Author, Even, Than To The Reader.

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Reader

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Mind

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Play

Groups

Fairness

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Life

Men

Self

There Is A Secret And Wholesome Conviction In The Heart Of Every Man Or Woman Who Has Written A Book That It Should Be No Easy Matter For An Intelligent Reader To Lay Down That Book Unfinished. There Is A Pardonable Impression Among Reviewers That Half An Hour In Its Company Is Sufficient.

Book

Heart

Men

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Law

Optimism

Triumph

Neatness Of Phrase Is So Closely Akin To Wit That It Is Often Accepted As Its Substitute.

Speech

Phrases

Accepted

We Are Tethered To Our Kind, And May As Well Join Hands In The Struggle.

Peace

Struggle

Ubuntu

People Fed On Sugared Praises Cannot Be Expected To Feel An Appetite For The Black Broth Of Honest Criticism.

People

Black

Criticism

Diaries Tell Their Little Tales With A Directness, A Candor, Conscious Or Unconscious, A Closeness Of Outlook, Which Gratifies Our Sense Of Security. Reading Them Is Like Gazing Through A Small Clear Pane Of Glass. We May Not See Far And Wide, But We See Very Distinctly That Which Comes Within Our Field Of Vision.

Reading

Glasses

Vision

Science May Carry Us To Mars, But It Will Leave The Earth Peopled As Ever By The Inept.

Mars

Earth

May

The Worst In Life, We Are Told, Is Compatible With The Best In Art. So Too The Worst In Life Is Compatible With The Best In Humour.

Art

Life Is

Humour

The Comfortable Thing About The Study Of History Is That It Inclines Us To Think Hopefully Of Our Own Times.

Thinking

History

Study

There Is No Illusion So Permanent As That Which Enables Us To Look Backward With Complacency; There Is No Mental Process So Deceptive As The Comparing Of Recollections With Realities.

Reality

Complacency

Looks

It Is In His Pleasure That A Man Really Lives.

Men

Enjoy Life

Leisure

Resistance, Which Is The Function Of Conservatism, Is Essential To Orderly Advance.

Change

Party

Political

Those Persons Are Happiest In This Restless And Mutable World Who Are In Love With Change, Who Delight In What Is New Simply Because It Differs From What Is Old; Who Rejoice In Every Innovation, And Find A Strange Alert Pleasure In All That Is, And That Has Never Been Before.

Change

Innovation

Delight

The Cat Dwells Within The Circle Of Her Own Secret Thoughts.

Cat

Circles

Secret

Miserliness Is The One Vice That Grows Stronger With Increasing Years. It Yields Its Sordid Pleasures To The End.

Years

Yield

Stronger

Conversation Between Adam And Eve Must Have Been Difficult At Times, Because They Had Nobody To Talk About.

Adam

Conversation

Difficult

If We Go To Church We Are Confronted With A System Of Begging So Complicated And So Resolute That All Other Demands Sink Into Insignificance By Its Side.

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Sides

Demand

Traveling Is, And Has Always Been, More Popular Than The Traveler.

Travel

Traveler

The Diseases Of The Present Have Little In Common With The Diseases Of The Past Save That We Die Of Them.

Past

Disease

Littles

A Puppy Is But A Dog, Plus High Spirits, And Minus Common Sense.

Dog

Common Sense

Pet

Life Is So Full Of Miseries, Minor And Major; They Press So Close Upon Us At Every Step Of The Way, That It Is Hardly Worthwhile To Call One Another's Attention To Their Presence.

Attention

Way

Steps

I Am Eighty Years Old. There Seems To Be Nothing To Add To This Statement. I Have Reached The Age Of Undecorated Facts - Facts That Refuse To Be Softened By Sentiment, Or Confused By Nobility Of Phrase.

Confused

Years

Age

The Party Which Is Out Sees Nothing But Graft And Incapacity In The Party Which Is In; And The Party Which Is In Sees Nothing But Greed And Animosity In The Party Which Is Out.

Party

Political

Greed

Edged Tools Are Dangerous Things To Handle, And Not Infrequently Do Much Hurt.

Hurt

Risk

Tools

It Is Unwise To Feel Too Much If We Think Too Little.

Thinking

Feelings

Littles

Letters Form A By-path Of Literature, A Charming, But Occasional, Retreat For People Of Cultivated Leisure.

People

Letters

Leisure

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Writing

Men

Generosity

To Have Given Pleasure To One Human Being Is A Recollection That Sweetens Life.

Pleasure

Given

Recollection

Every True American Likes To Think In Terms Of Thousands And Millions. The Word 'million' Is Probably The Most Pleasure-giving Vocable In The Language.

Thinking

Giving

Likes

An Appreciation Of Words Is So Rare That Everybody Naturally Thinks He Possesses It, And This Universal Sentiment Results In The Misuse Of A Material Whose Beauty Enriches The Loving Student Beyond The Dreams Of Avarice.

Dream

Appreciation

Thinking

But Self-satisfaction, If As Buoyant As Gas, Has An Ugly Trick Of Collapsing When Full Blown, And Facts Are Stony Things That Refuse To Melt Away In The Sunshine Of A Smile.

Sunshine

Self

Ugly

A World Of Vested Interests Is Not A World Which Welcomes The Disruptive Force Of Candor.

Peace

Ubuntu

World

A Man Who Owns A Dog Is, In Every Sense Of The Words, Its Master; The Term Expresses Accurately Their Mutual Relations. But It Is Ridiculous When Applied To The Limited Possession Of A Cat.

Dog

Cat

Men

The Gayety Of Life, Like The Beauty And The Moral Worth Of Life, Is A Saving Grace, Which To Ignore Is Folly, And To Destroy Is Crime. There Is No More Than We Need; There Is Barely Enough To Go Round.

Happiness

Joy

Grace

Who That Has Plodded On To Middle Age Would Take Back Upon His Shoulders Ten Of The Vanished Years, With Their Mingled Pleasures And Pains? Who Would Return To The Youth He Is Forever Pretending To Regret?

Pain

Regret

Years

The Friendships Of Nations, Built On Common Interests, Cannot Survive The Mutability Of Those Interests.

Common

Relation

Interest

The Pitfall Of The Feminist Is The Belief That The Interests Of Men And Women Can Ever Be Severed; That What Brings Sufferings To The One Can Leave The Other Unscathed.

Men

Feminist

Suffering

The Audience Is The Controlling Factor In The Actor's Life. It Is Practically Infallible, Since There Is No Appeal From Its Verdict. It Is A Little Like A Supreme Court Composed Of Irresponsible Minors.

Actors

Littles

Theater

Guests Are The Delight Of Leisure, And The Solace Of Ennui.

Guests

Leisure

Delight

The Earliest Voice Listened To By The Nations In Their Infancy Was The Voice Of The Storyteller.

Voice

Storytelling

Infancy

Philadelphians Are Every Whit As Mediocre As Their Neighbors, But They Seldom Encourage Each Other In Mediocrity By Giving It A More Agreeable Name.

Names

Giving

Mediocrity

The Pleasure Of Possession, Whether We Possess Trinkets, Or Offspring - Or Possibly Books, Or Prints, Or Chessmen, Or Postage Stamps - Lies In Showing These Things To Friends Who Are Experiencing No Immediate Urge To Look At Them.

Lying

Book

Looks

Economics And Ethics Have Little In Common.

Littles

Ethics

Common

The Soul Begins To Travel When The Child Begins To Think.

Travel

Children

Thinking

Everybody Is Now So Busy Teaching That Nobody Has Any Time To Learn.

Teaching

Learning

Busy

I Wonder What Especial Sanctity Attaches Itself To Fifteen Minutes. It Is Always The Maximum And The Minimum Of Time Which Will Enable Us To Acquire Languages, Etiquette, Personality, Oratory ... One Gathers That Twelve Minutes A Day Would Be Hopelessly Inadequate, And Twenty Minutes A Wasteful And Ridiculous Excess.

Learning

Personality

Twenties

Humor Distorts Nothing, And Only False Gods Are Laughed Off Their Earthly Pedestals.

Funny

Women

Humor

Woman Is Quick To Revere Genius, But In Her Secret Soul She Seldom Loves It.

Women

Soul

Secret

The Sanguine Assurance That Men And Nations Can Be Legislated Into Goodness, That Pressure From Without Is Equivalent To A Moral Change Within, Needs A Strong Backing Of Inexperience.

Strong

Men

Law

The Thinkers Of The World Should By Rights Be Guardians Of The World's Mirth.

Rights

World

Mirth

In Those Happy Days When Leisure Was Held To Be No Sin, Men And Women Wrote Journals Whose Copiousness Both Delights And Dismays Us.

Men

Diaries

Delight

There Is A Natural Limit To The Success We Wish Our Friends, Even When We Have Spurred Them On Their Way.

Envy

Wish

Way

Humor Hardens The Heart, At Least To The Point Of Sanity.

Heart

Humor

Sanity

People Who Pin Their Faith To A Catchword Never Feel The Necessity Of Understanding Anything.

People

Understanding

Pins

There Is Something Frightful In Being Required To Enjoy And Appreciate All Masterpieces; To Read With Equal Relish Milton, And Dante, And Calderon, And Goethe, And Homer, And Scott, And Voltaire, And Wordsworth, And Cervantes, And Molière, And Swift.

Appreciate

Literature

Discrimination

Laughter Springs From The Lawless Part Of Our Nature, And Is Purifying Only In So Far As There Is A Natural And Unschooled Goodness In The Human Heart.

Laughter

Spring

Heart

He Is Your Friend, Your Partner, Your Defender, Your Dog. You Are His Life, His Love, His Leader. He Will Be Yours, Faithful And True, To The Last Beat Of His Heart. You Owe It To Him To Be Worthy Of Such Devotion. Our Dogs Will Love And Admire The Meanest Of Us, And Feed Our Colossal Vanity With Their Uncritical Homage.

Dog

Heart

Animal

It Is Not The Office Of A Novelist To Show Us How To Behave Ourselves; It Is Not The Business Of Fiction To Teach Us Anything.

Office

Novelists

Fiction

Wit Is As Infinite As Love, And A Deal More Lasting In Its Qualities.

Quality

Infinite

Wit

A Villain Must Be A Thing Of Power, Handled With Delicacy And Grace. He Must Be Wicked Enough To Excite Our Aversion, Strong Enough To Arouse Our Fear, Human Enough To Awaken Some Transient Gleam Of Sympathy. We Must Triumph In His Downfall, Yet Not Barbarously Nor With Contempt, And The Close Of His Career Must Be In Harmony With All Its Previous Development.

Strong

Writing

Careers

The Vanity Of Man Revolts From The Serene Indifference Of The Cat.

Cat

Men

Vanity

Men Who Believe That, Through Some Exceptional Grace Or Good Fortune, They Have Found God, Feel Little Need Of Culture.

Believe

Men

Grace

Wit Is The Salt Of Conversation, Not The Food, And Few Things In The World Are More Wearying Than A Sarcastic Attitude Towards Life.

Positive

Sarcastic

Attitude

Where There Is No Temptation, There Is No Virtue.

Temptation

Virtue

[mary Wortley Montagu] Wrote More Letters, With Fewer Punctuation Marks, Than Any Englishwoman Of Her Day; And Her Nephew, The Fourth Baron Rokeby, Nearly Blinded Himself In Deciphering The Two Volumes Of Undated Correspondence Which Were Printed In 1810. Two More Followed In 1813, After Which The Gallant Baron Either Died At His Post Or Was Smitten With Despair; For Sixty-eight Cases Of Letters Lay Undisturbed ... 'les Morts N'écrivent Point,' Said Madame De Maintenon Hopefully; But Of What Benefit Is This Inactivity, When We Still Continue To Receive Their Letters?

Two

Punctuation Marks

Eight

Every Misused Word Revenges Itself Forever Upon A Writer's Reputation.

Revenge

Forever

Reputation

It Is Not What We Learn In Conversation That Enriches Us. It Is The Elation That Comes Of Swift Contact With Tingling Currents Of Thought.

Women

Elation

Currents

The Great Dividing Line Between Books That Are Made To Be Read And Books That Are Made To Be Bought Is Not The Purely Modern Thing It Seems. We Can Trace It, If We Try, Back To The First Printing-presses.

Book

Trying

Lines

America Has Invested Her Religion As Well As Her Morality In Sound Income-paying Securities. She Has Adopted The Unassailable Position Of A Nation Blessed Because It Deserves To Be Blessed; And Her Sons, Whatever Other Theologies They May Affect Or Disregard, Subscribe Unreservedly To This National Creed.

Blessed

Son

America

The Dog Is Guided By Kindly Instinct To The Man Or Woman Whose Heart Is Open To His Advances. The Cat Often Leaves The Friend Who Courts Her, To Honor, Or To Harass, The Unfortunate Mortal Who Shudders At Her Unwelcome Caresses.

Dog

Heart

Cat

The English Possess Too Many Agreeable Traits To Permit Them To Be As Much Disliked As They Think And Hope They Are.

Thinking

England

Permit

It Is Bad Enough To Be Bad, But To Be Bad In Bad Taste Is Unpardonable.

Taste

Enough

Bad Taste

There Are Many Ways Of Asking A Favor; But To Assume That You Are Granting The Favor That You Ask Shows Spirit And Invention.

Asking

Favors

Way

There Is Always A Secret Irritation About A Laugh In Which We Cannot Join

Irritation

Laughing

Secret

Erudition, Like A Bloodhound, Is A Charming Thing When Held Firmly In Leash, But It Is Not So Attractive When Turned Loose Upon A Defenseless And Unerudite Public.

Knowledge

Learning

Charming

Friendship Takes Time.

Take Time

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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