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Quote by Edwin Percy Whipple

“Every style formed elaborately on any model must be affected and straight-laced.”

Quote by Edwin Percy Whipple

Author

Edwin Percy Whipple

Edwin Percy Whipple was an American essayist known for his significant contributions to 19th-century American literature. Born on March 8, 1819, in Boston, Massachusetts, Whipple passed away on June 16, 1886. His essays, which often delved into themes of morality and social issues, established him as a prominent figure in the literary world. more

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“A nation may be in a tumult to-day for a thought which the timid Erasmus placidly penned in his study more than two centuries ago.”

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Book:Literature and Life

Source: Literature and Life

“What a man does with his wealth depends upon his idea of happiness. Those who draw prizes in life are apt to spend tastelessly, if not viciously; not knowing that it requires as much talent to spend as to make.”

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Author:Edwin Percy Whipple

“What does competency in the long run mean? It means to all reasonable beings, cleanliness of person, decency of dress, courtesy of manners, opportunities for education, the delights of leisure, and the bliss of giving.”

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Book:Success and Its Conditions

Source: Success and Its Conditions

“The bitterest satires and noblest eulogies on married life have come from poets.”

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Book:Literature and life, lects

Source: Literature and life, lects

“From Lucifer to Jerry Sneak there is not an aspect of evil, imperfection, and littleness which can elude the lights of humor or the lightning of wit.”

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Book:Lectures on Subjects Connected with Literature and Life

Source: Lectures on Subjects Connected with Literature and Life

“Nature and society are so replete with startling contrasts that wit often consists in the mere statement and comparison of facts, as when Hume says that the ancient Muscovites wedded their wives with a whip instead of a ring.”

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Book:Literature and life, lects

Source: Literature and life, lects

“The essence of the ludicrous consists in surprise,--in unexpected terms of feeling and explosions of thought,--often bringing dissimilar things together with a shock; as when some wit called Boyle, the celebrated philosopher, the father of chemistry and brother of the Earl of Cork.”

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Author:Edwin Percy Whipple

“Wit implies hatred or contempt of folly and crime, produces its effects by brisk shocks of surprise, uses the whip of scorpions and the branding-iron, stabs, stings, pinches, tortures, goads, teases, corrodes, undermines.”

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Book:Literature and life, lects

Source: Literature and life, lects

“Wit is an unexpected explosion of thought.”

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Author:Edwin Percy Whipple

“Nothing is rarer than the use of a word in its exact meaning.”

Book:Essays and Reviews

Source: Essays and Reviews