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1
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Irony dissolves sentiment, but occasionally a sentiment is strong enough to dissolve irony.
(Mason Cooley (b. 1927), U.S. aphorist. City Aphorisms, Fifth Selection, New York (1988).)
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Mason Cooley
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2
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Two fundamental literary qualities: supernaturalism and irony.
(Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), French poet, critic. My Heart Laid Bare, XI (1887).)
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Charles Baudelaire
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3
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Irony, forsooth! Guard yourself, Engineer, from the sort of irony that thrives up here; guard yourself altogether from taking on their mental attitude! Where irony is not a direct and classic device of oratory, not for a moment equivocal to a healthy mind, it makes for depravity, it becomes a drawback to civilization, an unclean traffic with the forces of reaction, vice and materialism.
(Thomas Mann (1875-1955), German author, critic. Originally published as Der Zauberberg, Fischer (1924). The Magic Mountain, ch. 5, p. 220, trans. by Helen T. Lowe-Porter, The Modern Library, McGraw-Hill (1955).
Settembrini's critique of irony is also a partial self- critique of the ironic author.)
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Thomas Mann
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4
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Irony is a disciplinarian feared only by those who do not know it, but cherished by those who do. He who does not understand irony and has no ear for its whispering lacks eo ipso what might be called the absolute beginning of the personal life. He lacks what at moments is indispensable for the personal life, lacks both the regeneration and rejuvenation, the cleaning baptism of irony that redeems the soul from having its life in finitude though living boldly and energetically in finitude.
(Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Danish philosopher. "Irony as a Mastered Moment: The Truth of Irony," pt. 2, The Concept Of Irony (1841, trans. 1966).)
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Soren Kierkegaard
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5
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Irony is a clear consciousness of an eternal agility, of the infinitely abundant chaos.
(Friedrich Von Schlegel (1772-1829), German philosopher. Idea 69 in Selected Ideas (1799-1800), translated by Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Pennsylvania University Press (1968).)
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Friedrich Von Schlegel
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6
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Irony differentiates. Cynicism never does.
(Paul Horgan (b. 1903), U.S. author, educator. Approaches to Writing, no. 398, Farrar (1973).)
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Paul Horgan
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7
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It's a tragic irony. The sick stayed well and the healthy became blind.
(Philip Yordan (b. 1913), U.S. screenwriter, and Steve Sekely. Christine Durrant (Nicole Maurey), Day of the Triffids, discussing the triffids' attack on England, which left their victims blind (1963).)
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Philip Yordan
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8
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Irony regards every simple truth as a challenge.
(Mason Cooley (b. 1927), U.S. aphorist. City Aphorisms, Seventh Selection, New York (1990).)
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Mason Cooley
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9
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Sentimental irony is a dog that bays at the moon while pissing on graves.
(Karl Kraus (1874-1936), Austrian satirist. repr. In Half-Truths and One-And-A Half-Truths: Selected Aphorisms, "Riddles Out of Solutions," ed. Harry Zohn (1976). Sprüche und Widersprüche, ch. 6 (1909).)
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Karl Kraus
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10
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Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding.
(Agnes Repplier (1858-1950), U.S. author, social critic. In Pursuit of Laughter, ch. 9 (1936).)
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Agnes Repplier
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