“If wits were pins, the man would be a veritable hedgehog.”

—  Frances Hardinge , book Fly by Night

Source: Fly by Night

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If wits were pins, the man would be a veritable hedgehog." by Frances Hardinge?
Frances Hardinge photo
Frances Hardinge 16
British children's writer 1973

Related quotes

Cassandra Clare photo

“But that was Isabelle — if there was a boy around and blame that needed to be pinned on someone, Isabelle would pin it on him”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“When her guests were awash with champagne and with gin
She was recklessly sober, as sharp as a pin:
An abstemious man would reel at her look
As she rolled a bright eye and praised his last book.”

William Plomer (1903–1973) South African-British writer

"Slightly Foxed", line 25.
The Dorking Thigh, and Other Satires

Douglas Adams photo

“If somebody thinks they're a hedgehog, presumably you just give 'em a mirror and a few pictures of hedgehogs and tell them to sort it out for themselves.”

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Giovanni Boccaccio photo

“The nature of wit is such that its bite must be like that of a sheep rather than a dog, for if it were to bite the listener like a dog, it would no longer be wit but abuse.”

Giovanni Boccaccio book The Decameron

Essere la natura de' motti cotale, che essi come la pecora morde deono cosi mordere l'uditore, e non come 'l cane: percio che, se come cane mordesse il motto, non sarebbe motto, ma villania.
Sixth Day, Third Story
The Decameron (c. 1350)

Isaac Asimov photo

“Were I to use the wits the good Spirits gave me,” he said, “then I would say this lady can not exist — for what sane man would hold a dream to be reality. Yet rather would I not be sane and lend belief to charmed, enchanted eyes.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation and Empire (1952), Chapter 13 “Lieutenant and Clown”

Terry Pratchett photo

“Out of Print" is bookseller speak for "We can't be hedgehogged.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

Usenet

Isaiah Berlin photo

“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997) Russo-British Jewish social and political theorist, philosopher and historian of ideas
Archilochus photo

“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

Archilochus (-680–-645 BC) Ancient Greek lyric poet

As quoted in The Hedgehog and the Fox (1953) by Isaiah Berlin
Variant translations:
The fox knows many things; the hedgehog one great thing.
The fox knows many tricks; the hedgehog one good one.
The fox knows many tricks; and the hedgehog only one; but that is the best one of all.
Fragments

“No matter what the odds, a man does not pin his last hope for survival on something and then expect that it will fail.”

Alfred Lansing book Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

Source: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

Related topics