“There is no quality of the mind, or of the body, that so instantaneously and irresistibly captivates, as wit. An elegant writer has observed that wit may do very well for a mistress, but that he should prefer reason for a wife. He that deserts the latter, and gives himself up entirely to the guidance of the former, will certainly fall into many pitfalls and quagmires, like him who walks by flashes of lightning, rather than the steady beams of the sun.” GivingShouldMindWellsMayReasonBodyFallWalksQualitySunWifeWitFormerDesertGuidanceLatterSteadyFlashLightningElegantMistressBeamPitfallsQuagmire Book:Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan Source: Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan
“Men of superior vivacity and wit, when they take a wrong turn, are generally worse than other men: because wit, consisting in a lively representation of ideas assembled together, gives every sensible object those heightening touches, and that striking imagery, which is unknown to men of slower apprehensions: wit being to sensible objects, what light is to bodies; it does not merely show them as they are in themselves: it gives an adventitious colour, which is not a property inherent in them: it lends them beauties which are not their own.” MenGivingDoeIdeasShowsBodyLightTogetherTurnsObjectsPropertyWitSuperiorsColourSensibleInherentRepresentationImageryLivelyApprehensionWrong TurnVivacity Author:Jeremiah Seed
“Lust is an enemy to the purse, a foe to the person, a canker to the mind, a corrosive to the conscience, a weakness of the wit, a besotter of the senses, and finally, a mortal bane to all the body.” MindPersonsBodyEnemyWeaknessConscienceWitSensesLustMortalsFoePursesBane Author:Pliny the Elder
“The very essence of gravity was design, and, consequently, deceit; it was a taught trick to gain credit of the world for more sense end knowledge than a man was worth; and that with all its pretensions it was no better, but often worse, than what a French wit had long ago defined it--a mysterious carriage of the body to cover the defects of the mind.” MenWorldMindLongEndsBodyDesignTaughtGainsEssenceCreditWitTricksMysteriousDefinedDeceitGravityLong AgoDefectsPretensionCarriages Book:The Works of Laurence Sterne, in One Volume Source: The Works of Laurence Sterne, in One Volume