quotations about sarcasm
Can you smell sarcasm
On my breath?
MOTLEY CRUE
"A Rat Like Me"
I often work with groups who include a lot of joking and sarcasm in their meetings. When I challenge them on it, they often tell me that I am being too stiff and lack a sense of humor. Here is the thing though: What is the impact of the sarcasm? Is it really a joke or is it a message to someone in the room? Is it helping the conversation move forward or is it causing the conversation to derail? The invitation I make to teams is not to be stiff and humorless. I ask them to share responsibility for making the conversation useful and productive. I also ask them to raise the level of their discussion above jokes and sarcasm.
STEFFAN SURDEK
"How To Be A Voice Among Many In The Conversation", Forbes, September 7, 2017
Now I'm not saying all sarcasm is bad. It's just better used sparingly--like a potent spice in cooking. Too much spice and the dish will be overwhelmed by it. Similarly, an occasional dash of sarcastic wit can spice up a chat and add an element of humor to it. But a big or steady serving of sarcasm will overwhelm the emotional flavor of any conversation and taste very bitter to its recipient.
CLIFFORD N. LAZARUS
"Think Sarcasm is Funny? Think Again", Psychology Today
Sarcasm poisons reproof. It is like the noxious juice of the cassava. The plant is unfit for food until the juice has been extracted.
EDWARD WIGGLESWORTH
Reflections
Nothing to me is more disgusting than that air of mildness and benevolence with which some sly sarcasm, designed to obscure the brightest part of another's character, is usually introduced in conversation.
HESTER CHAPONE
The Works of Mrs. Chapone: Now First Collected
Sarcasm is not the rapier of wit its wielders seem to believe it to be, but merely a club: it may, by dint of brute force, occasionally raise bruises, but it never cuts or pierces.
REX STOUT
attributed, "The Surprising Science of Sarcasm"
Sarcasm is often devoid of sentiment ... it contains no sentiment-bearing words.
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
"How Vector Space Mathematics Helps Machines Spot Sarcasm", MIT Technology Review, October 13, 2016
You see, that is the sad, sorry, terrible thing about sarcasm. It's really funny.
BRANDON SANDERSON
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, the language of the Devil; for which reason I have, long since, as good as renounced it.
THOMAS CARLYLE
Sartor Resartus
It's sarcasm ... from the Greek, sarkasmos. To bite the lips. It means that you aren't really saying what you mean, but people will get your point. I invented it.
CHRISTOPHER MOORE
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal