It is commonly said that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humor, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.

Mockery is often the result of a poverty of wit.

We grow tired of everything but turning others into ridicule, and congratulating ourselves on their defects.

No God and no religion can survive ridicule. No political church, no nobility, no royalty or other fraud, can face ridicule in a fair field, and live.

One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.

Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.