| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 65241 |
| QUOTATION: | Some celebrated writers have supposed that wit and judgment were incompatible; opposite qualities, that, in a kind of elementary strife, destroyed each other: and many men of wit have endeavored to prove that they were mistaken. Much may be adduced by wits and metaphysicians on both sides of the question. But from experience, I am apt to believe that they do weaken each other, and that great quickness of comprehension, and facile association of ideas, naturally preclude profundity of research. Wit is often a lucky hit; the result of a momentary inspiration. We know not whence it comes, and it blows where it lists. The operations of judgment, on the contrary, are cool and circumspect; and coolness and deliberation are great enemies to enthusiasm. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), British feminist writer. A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790). |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| WORKS: | Wollstonecraft Collection. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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