[13]
Opportunity, on the
other hand, is dependent on circumstances, and is of
such importance that with its assistance not merely
the unlearned, but even mere country bumpkins are
capable of producing effective witticisms: while
much again may depend on some previous remark
made by another which will provide opportunity for
repartee. For wit always appears to greater advantage in reply than in attack.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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