“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter
Quoted in Theatre Arts Magazine, December 1955 http://books.google.com/books?id=jkNNAAAAYAAJ&q=%22A+kiss+can+be+a+comma+a+question+mark+or+an+exclamation+point%22&pg=PA8#v=onepage
“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter
“Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind.”
Terry Pratchett book Reaper Man
Variant: Multiple exclamation marks,' he went on, shaking his head, 'are a sure sign of a diseased mind.
Source: Reaper Man
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
a remark made in the House of Commons responding to a Laborite speech; reported as unverified in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989).
Disputed
“Numbersign questionmark you" and "Asterisk exclamation point the world.”
Daniel Handler book Why We Broke Up
Source: Why We Broke Up
“One should never use exclamation points in writing. It is like laughing at your own joke.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
John Mortimer (1923–2009) English barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author
Defending record shop proprietor Christopher Seale against obscenity charges for displaying advertisements for Sex Pistols' LP Never Mind the Bollocks, Nottingham Magistrates Court (14 November 1977)
“The kiss…. was not meant to seduce, it was meant to mark a woman's soul.
Chloe”
Karen Marie Moning (1964) author
Source: The Dark Highlander