I’d been painting rats for three years before someone said “that’s clever it’s an anagram of art” and I had to pretend I’d known that all along.
Banksy (b. 1974?) England-based pseudonymous street artist, political activist, film director
Wall and Piece, “Rats” (2005)
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Quotations about:
wordplay
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
All ways of expressing ourselves are good if they make us understood. Thus, if the clarity of our thoughts comes through better in a play of words, then the wordplay is good.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], 1805 (1850 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983)]
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Analog not found in standard translations of the Pensees.
As I have always been convinced that abuse of Words, has been the great instrument of Sophistry and Chicanery — of party, faction and Division in Society.
John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1819-03-31) to J. H. Tiffany
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Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Basically, it’s made up of two separate words — “mank” and “ind.” What do these words mean? It’s a mystery, and that’s why so is mankind.
Jack Handey (b. 1949) American humorist
Deeper Thoughts: All New, All Crispy (1993)
A pun does not commonly justify a blow in return. But if a blow were given for such cause, and death ensued, the jury would be judges both of the facts and of the pun, and might, if the latter were of an aggravated character, return a verdict of justifiable homicide.
I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Comment, The Brains Trust, BBC Radio (1948-04-26)
(Source)
Offered as a game, "Conjugations" (today referred to by linguists as "Russell Conjugations" or "Emotive Conjugations"). The publication The New Statesman and Nation subsequently ran a competition for similar "irregular verbs," which were later printed (1948-05-15), along with the quote from Russell.
Sometimes misattributed to British journalist Katharine Whitehorn.
