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It frequently happens that where the second line is sublime, the
third, in which he meant to rise still higher, is perfectly
bombast.
Author: Hugh Blair
Source: commenting on Lucan's style
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We have oftener than once endeavoured to attach some meaning to
that aphorism, vulgarly imputed to Shaftesbury, which however we
can find nowhere in his works, that "ridicule is the test of
truth."
Author: Thomas Carlyle
Source: Essays--Voltaire
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That passage is what I call the sublime dashed to pieces by
cutting too close with the fiery four-in-hand round the corner of
nonsense.
Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Source: Table Talk
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How comes it to pass, then, that we appear such cowards in
reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the test of ridicule?
- Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury,
Author: Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
Source: Characteristics--Letter Concerning Enthusiasm (pt. I, sec. II)
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'Twas the saying of an ancient sage that humour was the only test
of gravity, and gravity of humour. For a subject which would not
bear raillery was suspicious; and a jest which would not bear a
serious examination was certainly false wit.
- Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury,
Author: Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
Source: Characteristics--Letter Concerning Enthusiasm (pt. I, sect, V), referring to Leontinus
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Truth, 'tis supposed, may bear all lights; and one those
principal lights or natural mediums by which things are to be
viewed in order to a thorough recognition is ridicule itself.
Author: Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
Source: Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour (pt. I, sec. I)
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Jane borrow'd maxims from a doubting school,
And took for truth the test of ridicule;
Lucy saw no such virtue in a jest,
Truth was with her of ridicule the test.
Author: George Crabbe
Source: Tales of the Hall (bk. VIII, l. 126)
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I distrust those sentiments that are too far removed from nature,
and whose sublimity is blended with ridicule; which two are as
near one another as extreme wisdom and folly.
Author: Andre-Francois Deslandes
Source: Reflexions sur les Grands Hommes qui sont morts en Plaisantant
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There is nothing one sees oftener than the ridiculous and
magnificent, such close neighbors that they touch.
[Fr., L'on ne saurait mieux faire voir que le magnifique et le
ridicule sont si voisins qu'ils se touchent.]
Author: Bernard de Bovier de Fontenelle
Source: Oeuvres--Dialogues des Morts (IV, 32), (ed. 1825)
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Ridicule more often settles things more thoroughly and better
than acrimony.
[Lat., Ridiculum acri fortius ac melius magnas plerumque secat
res.]
Author: Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Source: Satires (bk. I, 10, 14)
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Generally the ridiculous touches the sublime.
[Fr., En general, le ridicule touche au sublime.]
Author: Jean Francois Marmontel
Source: Oeuvres Complettes (V, 188)
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There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
[Fr., Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas.]
Author: Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I)
Source: to Abbe du Pradt, at Warsaw
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The sublime and ridiculous are often so nearly related that it is
difficult to class them separately. One step below the sublime
makes the ridiculous and one step above the ridiculous makes the
sublime again.
Author: Thomas Paine
Source: The Age of Reason (pt. II)
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I have always made one prayer to God, a very short one. Here it
is: "My God, make our enemies very ridiculous!" God has granted
it to me.
Author: Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire)
Source: Letter to M. Damilaville, May 16, 1767
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One does not lash what lies at a distance. The foibles that we ridicule must at least be a little bit our own. Only then will the work be a part of our own flesh. The garden must be weeded.
Author: Paul Klee
Source: None
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I know that there are things that never have been funny, and never will be. And I know that ridicule may be a shield, but it is not a weapon.
Author: Dorothy Parker
Source: None
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I believe they talked of me, for they laughed consumedly.
Author: George Farquhar
Source: None
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And took for truth the test of ridicule.
Author: George Crabbe
Source: None
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Man learns more readily and remembers more willingly what excites his ridicule than what deserves esteem and respect.
Author: Horace
Source: None
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Ridicule is the first and last argument of fools.
Author: Charles Simmons
Source: None
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Scoff not at the natural defects of any which are not in their power to amend. It is cruel to beat a cripple with his own crutches!
Author: Thomas Fuller
Source: None
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Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.
Author: Thomas Jefferson
Source: None
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Ridicule is the language of the devil.
Author: Thomas Carlyle
Source: None
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Man learns more readily and remembers more willingly what excites his ridicule than what deserves esteem and respect.
Author: Horace
Source: None
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Mockery is the weapon of those who have no other.
Author: Hubert Pierlot
Source: None
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