A dream has power to poison sleep.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
His fine wit Makes such a wound, the knife is lost in it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that clever humor can be deeply cutting and impactful, often more so than physical harm.
Percy Bysshe Shelley indicates that a sharp wit can inflict emotional pain that transcends mere physical injury. The metaphor of a knife being lost in the wound underscores how the effects of such incisive humor can linger and resonate, creating a lasting impact on the recipient.
Themes
WitHumorPainImpactEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
A comedian may use this quote in a stand-up routine to highlight the effects of humor.
More from Percy Bysshe Shelley
All quotes βSenseless is the breast and cold _x000D_ _x000D_ Which relenting love would fold;_x000D_ _x000D_ Bloodless are the veins and chill _x000D_ _x000D_ Which the pulse of pain did fill; _x000D_ _x000D_ Every little living nerve _x000D_ _x000D_ That from bitter words did swerve _x000D_ _x000D_ Round the tortur'd lips and brow, _x000D_ _x000D_ Are like sapless leaflets now _x000D_ _x000D_ Frozen upon December's bough.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
A sensitive plant in a garden grew,_x000D_ _x000D_ And the young winds fed it with silver dew,_x000D_ _x000D_ And it opened its fan_x000D_ _x000D_ like leaves to the light,_x000D_ _x000D_ and closed them beneath the kisses of night.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain when with never a stain The pavilion of Heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
Ah, woe is me! Winter is come and gone. But grief returns with the revolving year.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
Similar quotes
The truth is, laughter always sounds more perfect than weeping. Laughter flows in a violent riff and is effortlessly melodic. Weeping is often fought, choked, half strangled, or surrendered to with humiliation.
Anne RiceRead
But then acting is all about faking. We're all very good at faking things that we have no competence with.
John CleeseRead
Twas Noah who first planted the vine_x000D_ _x000D_ And mended his morals by drinking its wine.
Benjamin FranklinRead
A satirist is a man whose flesh creeps so at the ugly and the savage and the incongruous aspects of society that he has to express them as brutally and nakedly as possible in order to get relief.
John Dos PassosRead
My life had made me funny, and cancer wasn't going to change that.
Gilda RadnerRead
Jesus! Did I SAY that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me? I glanced over at my attorney, but he seemed oblivious.
Hunter S. ThompsonRead