Can you nominate in order now the degrees of the lie I will name you the degrees. The first, the Retort Courteous the second, the Quip Modest the third, the Reply Churlish the fourth, the Reproof Valiant the fifth the Countercheck Quarrelsome the sixth, the Lie with Circumstance the seventh, the Lie Direct. All these you may avoid but the Lie Direct and you may avoid that too, with an If.... Your If is the only peace-maker much virtue in If.
Quotes about retort (9 Quotes)
It really seems somewhat disingenuous to come to this board as a retort to the court's decision.
The first, 'the retort courteous' the second, 'the quip modest' the third, 'the reply churlish' the fourth, 'the reproof valiant' the fifth, 'the countercheck quarrelsome' the sixth, 'the lie with circumstance' the seventh, 'the lie direct'.
You guys make way more out of it than it necessarily is. I believe he has had a retort to (the March 26 incident). But I won't have a conversation with him about that. It just wasn't there tonight. When you compete, you don't try to force something.
Audiences are always better pleased with a smart retort, some joke or epigram, than with any amount of reasoning.
I think you have to be very careful you don't make the audience hate someone by giving him a retort that is not funny. Funny retorts work, but when you're vicious to someone, they do not work. My wife says I'm vicious all the time Thank God she's supporting me, so I have to stop.
It was frustrating, but there is nothing to be gained from moping. Our best retort is to go out against Ireland and perform to our capabilities. If that happens, we give ourselves a chance.
REPARTEE, n. Prudent insult in retort. Practiced by gentlemen with a constitutional aversion to violence, but a strong disposition to offend. In a war of words, the tactics of the North American Indian.
If a man will understand how intimately, yea, how inseparably, self-control and happiness are associated, he has but to look into his own heart, and upon the world around,...Looking upon the lives of men and women, he will perceive how the hasty word, the bitter retort, the act of deception, the blind prejudice and foolish resentment bring wretchedness and even ruin in their train.