HE greatest advantage I know of being thought a wit by the world, is, that it gives one the greater freedom of playing the fool.
Pope, Thoughts on Various Subjects.
ONCEIVE me, if you can,
An every-day young man:
A common-place type,
With a stick and a pipe,
And a half-bred black-and-tan;
Who thinks suburban "hops"
More fun than "Monday Pops";
Who's fond of his dinner,
And doesn't get thinner,
On bottled beer and chops;—
A common-place young man—
A matter-of-fact young man—
A steady and stolid-y, jolly Bank-holiday
Every-day young man!
Grosvenor, in W. S. Gilbert's Patience.
DO not so much want to avoid being cheated, as to afford the expense of being so; the generality of mankind being seldom in good humour but whilst they are imposing upon you in some shape or other.
Shenstone, Essays.