Bon Mot Quotes & Sayings

Dorothy Parker once said: I require three things in a man. He must be handsome, ruthless, and stupid." Upon delivering this Dot bon mot, with much waving of sparkly rings and jingly bracelets, Constance Langtry comments that she'd add a fourth: "Deft tongue. And I don't mean a good talker. — Marie Wilson

They were eyes made for laughter, but not raucous yuks; rather, for the laughter of wit, of erudition, of the bon mot. — Stephen Hunter

I had learned of Gertrude Stein's bon mot that medicine opened all doors. This prompted me, in different moods, to view my future life as literary psychiatrist, globe-trotting tropical disease specialist, or academic internist. — Harold E. Varmus

Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot — Albert Einstein

You just put your boot so far up his ass, he'll have to eat his dinner with a shoehorn." "I can always count on you for a suitable bon mot. — Douglas Preston

As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene ... No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrase-mongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot.
(Quote taken from "What Life Means to Einstein," The Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929.) — Albert Einstein

A famous bon mot asserts that opinions are like arse-holes, in that everyone has one. There is great wisdom in this ... but I would add that opinions differ significantly from arse-holes, in that yours should be constantly and thoroughly examined.
We must think critically, and not just about the ideas of others. Be hard on your beliefs. Take them out onto the verandah and beat them with a cricket bat ... Be intellectually rigorous. Identify your biases, your prejudices, your privilege. — Tim Minchin

In France we can cauterize wounds but we do not yet know any remedy for the injuries inflicted by a bon mot. — Honore De Balzac

The state might say that it had taken a year to write the book, and the author might say it had taken thirty. Goethe said that every bon mot of his had cost a purse of gold. What — Upton Sinclair

You need not hurry when the object is only to prevent my saying a bon mot, for there is not the least wit in my nature. I am a very matter-of-fact, plain-spoken being, and may blunder on the borders of a repartee for half an hour together without striking it out. — Jane Austen