Amy1, aka Ottoline, sent me a collection of very good examples of quick wit. Thank you!
Winston Churchill vs. Lady Astor
Groucho Marx vs. a contestant on “You Bet Your Life,” after the contestant revealed that he was a father of 10
Abraham Lincoln vs. Stephen Douglas, after Douglas called him “two-faced” during a debate
Pierre Trudeau vs. Richard Nixon, upon hearing that Nixon had called him an asshole
Oscar Wilde vs. Lewis Morris… Morris had just been passed over for the Poet Laureateship
Miriam Hopkins vs. an anonymous singer
James McNeill Whistler vs. Oscar Wilde, after Whistler
had made a particularly witty observation
Bill Clinton vs. Dan Quayle, after Quayle revealed that he planned to be “a pit bull” in the 1992 campaign
Winston Churchill vs. a Member of Parliament
Calvin Coolidge vs. some random lady at a White House dinner
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart vs. an admirer
