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.

Quote by James Thurber

Topics: Famous Quotes

Editing should be, especially in the case of old writers, a counseling rather than a...

Editing should be, especially in the case of old writers, a counseling rather than a...

There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.

There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.

The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound,...

The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound,...

It is better to have loafed and lost, than never to have loafed at all.

It is better to have loafed and lost, than never to have loafed at all.

Last night I dreamed of a small consolation enjoyed only by the blind: Nobody knows...

Last night I dreamed of a small consolation enjoyed only by the blind: Nobody knows...

The appreciative smile, the chuckle, the soundless mirth, so important to the success of comedy,...

The appreciative smile, the chuckle, the soundless mirth, so important to the success of comedy,...

Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?

Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known...

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known...

A word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn't make sense.

A word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn't make sense.

Laughter need not be cut out of anything, since it improves everything.

Laughter need not be cut out of anything, since it improves everything.

It's a naive domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by...

It's a naive domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by...

The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound,...

The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound,...

The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those...

The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those...

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known...

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known...

There is something about a poet which leads us to believe that he died, in...

There is something about a poet which leads us to believe that he died, in...

All men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first.

All men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first.

Ours is a precarious language, as every writer knows, in which the merest shadow line...

Ours is a precarious language, as every writer knows, in which the merest shadow line...

We all have faults, and mine is being wicked.

We all have faults, and mine is being wicked.

Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, wealthy, and dead.

Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, wealthy, and dead.

The difference between our decadence and the Russians' is that while theirs is brutal, ours...

The difference between our decadence and the Russians' is that while theirs is brutal, ours...