Quote#Humour & Wit
'Twas the saying of [Georgias Leontinus apud Arist. Rhetor. lib. 3.…
Quote byAnthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury · 1671–1713
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Sensus Communis: An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour (1709), Part 1, Sec. 5.
English (original)
'Twas the saying of [Georgias Leontinus apud Arist. Rhetor. lib. 3. cap. 18… which the Translator renders, Seria Risu, Risum Seriis discutere] 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.
— Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury
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