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A true sarcasm is like a sword-stick—it appears, at first sight, to be much more innocent than it really is, till, all of a sudden, there leaps something out of it—sharp and deadly and incisive—which makes you tremble and recoil.

A true sarcasm is like a sword-stick—it appears, at first sight, to be much more innocent than it really is, till, all of a sudden, there leaps something out of it—sharp and deadly and incisive—which makes you tremble and recoil.

Approximate author period: c. 1807 AD · industrial

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Sydney Smith
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1807 AD · industrial
author lifetime midpoint (1769–1845)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Pearls of Thought (1881) (1881 AD)

Page 231 · printed citation: Sydney Smith · subject: Sarcasm

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.