Salt and pepper shakers stand beside an empty white dish on a blue-and-white checked napkin.

Original artwork, not a still

Lectures on the English Comic Writers ‧ 1819

William Hazlitt

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Wit is compared to salt: it gives conversation flavour but cannot serve as the substance. Talk made only of cleverness would be like a meal of seasoning, so the speaker suggests sparkle works best sprinkled over real content.

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