Top 100 Quotes About Irony
#1. The gods speak to us, and irony is their language.
Tim W. Burke
#2. I really think [the Bush Administration]'s foreign policy agenda is to spread irony through the world.
Jon Stewart
#3. Yes, well, irony is no protection when you can feel the breeze from his scythe on your skin and hear the rustle of his wings.
Michael Gruber
#4. Damn, Ty, I'm getting slizzard," Mel says, sending everyone into bouts of laughter. "Dumb ass, you don't have a G6. You can't get slizzard in a frickin' Prius," I joke with her. We all laugh again
Julie Prestsater
#5. You might as well laugh at yourself,
everyone else is.
B.J. Neblett
#6. The tragic irony in all of this is that when we focus so strongly on our need to get better, we actually get worse.
Tullian Tchividjian
#7. Often we withhold our affections, waiting first for love to be extended to us. The irony is that we are loved for loving.
Richelle E. Goodrich
#8. Melodrama is one of the most stunning art forms. These are stories where the emotions are big, and the situations are big, and the artists believe in the situation dramatically. There's no irony or distance.
James Gray
#9. But what use is the unicorn to you if your intellect doesn't believe in it?
Umberto Eco
#10. The irony is that if we make every imperative into a command to believe the gospel more fully, we turn the gospel into one more thing we have to get right, and faith becomes the one thing we need to be better at.
Kevin DeYoung
#11. Society tells me to follow my own truth, but I don't let society tell me what to do. If you need someone to tell you that, chances are you're part of the crowd that will move on to the next fashion that comes around.
Criss Jami
#12. As the ironist does not have the new within his power, it might be asked how he destroys the old, and to this it must be answered: he destroys the given actuality by the given actuality itself.
Soren Kierkegaard
#13. They say a woman's loyalty only lasts as long as it takes her to hang up and dial again.
Kim Gatlin
#14. But one place ain't no different from no place else. People try and make it like everything's new only to find the devil done followed you wherever you moved and all you can do is hold him off whiles you catch your breath
Amina Gautier
#15. In spite of her superficial independence, her fundamental need was to cling.
All her life was an attempt to disprove it; and so proved it. She was like a sea anemone
had only to be touched once to adhere to what touched her.
John Fowles
#16. The irony of talking to animals and an imaginary girlfriend, who keep me sane, even though I know I look like a raving lunatic, isn't lost on me.
Elyse Draper
#18. So now that we don't have different clothes," I say, "you merely have different women," This is irony, but he doesn't acknowledge it.
Margaret Atwood
#19. There are a million ways to make money in the markets. The irony is that they are all very difficult to find.
Jack D. Schwager
#20. The irony is palpable - technical access has never been greater, cultural access never weaker.
Beeban Kidron
#21. If one cannot learn from the mistakes of others, one might as well become a Democrat.
Esther M. Friesner
#22. Well, it'd certainly be fascinating if we discovered that gays were better at being married than heterosexuals are. Talk about irony.
Gail Collins
#23. In them was not the savage blankness of the reptile species. Instead there was something far worse - burning, unquenchable rage mixed with the self-mocking irony of great intelligence.
Whitley Strieber
#24. Everything I love: literature, irony, humor, the individual, and the defense of free expression.
Christopher Hitchens
#25. Psychologists have shown the irony of the process of thought control: the more energy you put into trying to control your ideas and what you think about, the more your ideas end up controlling you.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
#27. To say "He was a young fool, and now he's an old fool" is to make a distinction without a difference.
Gary Inbinder
#28. You know perfectly well that if ever you really want to, you can come back to me, he said without the slightest trace of irony and cynicism, and left.
Ama Ata Aidoo
#29. Still, waking up this early was just wrong. "Why can't people be reasonable and only die after eleven A.M.?" I whined.
Diana Rowland
#30. I should learn patience, it's a shame there's no time for that.
Maija Haavisto
#31. The irony is, nothing is more frightening than being frightened.
Neel Burton
#32. I thought about the irony of dying just after learning I wasn't dying. I thought, you don't need cancer to die. It could come just like that, from a moment of carelessness.
Anonymous
#33. It is an irony that the more possessive you are, the more love you demand, the less you receive, while the more freedom you give, the less you demand, the more love you will receive.
Harold H. Bloomfield
#35. We didn't need light & shade, irony or humor. An iconic Daltrey bellow could convey an extrodinary range of human emotion; withering sadness, self pity, loneliness, abandonment, spiritual desperation, the loss of childhood, as well as the more obvious rage & frustration, joy & triumph.
Pete Townshend
#36. Liberty," he continued, wrinkling his nose at the used condom that lay on the bottom flight of steps, toeing it to the side of the stairs with distaste. "Someone could slip on that. Break their necks," he muttered, interrupting himself. "Like a banana peel, only with bad taste and irony thrown in.
Neil Gaiman
#37. The unhappy irony is that, while 'Glee' is hitting the heights, school arts funding is being slashed across the country due to the steep recession and declining tax revenues.
James Wolcott
#38. Hollywood is a place of great irony at all times.
Mark Canton
#39. What's fair and what's true often bear no resemblance to each other.
Garon Whited
#40. A painting is worth a thousand confused art-gallery visitors.
Ljupka Cvetanova
#41. Irony is a treacherous servant; unless it's very carefully watched over, it has a tendency to expose the foolishness of its apparent master.
Mark O'Connell
#42. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn.
Joss Whedon
#43. A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humor, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called 'meaningless' ...
Christopher Hitchens
#44. Humor, together with irony,forms a safeguard against idolatry.
Krister Stendahl
#45. Really?"
"No. I'm being ironic. Or is it sarcastic? I can never remember."
"Irony's cleverer, so you're probably being sarcastic.
Jonathan Stroud
#46. He said he wants variety. The irony is that I wanted variety too. But I wanted variety in a solid, stable committed relationship where I would wake up each morning asking "What are we going to do today?" not asking "Who are you going to do today?
Aimee Lane
#47. Would you like me to [kill you] now?" asked Snape, his voice heavy with irony. "Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?
J.K. Rowling
#48. Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.
Mark Twain
#49. There is at least one advantage to being an Indonesian citizen: With this country's expanse of land and even greater expanse of sea, it's not difficult finding space for one's grave.
Pramoedya Ananta Toer
#50. It's an irony that growing inequality could mean more money for philanthropy. In the U.S., quite a few of the ultra-rich have taken to heart the 19th century industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie's comment that it's a disgrace to die wealthy.
Geoff Mulgan
#51. Behold, my friends, I am justice.
And when at last we meet, you will not like it.
And if irony awakens in you at the end, see me weep with these tears of jade, and answer with a smile.
If you've the courage.
Have you, my friends, the courage?
Steven Erikson
#52. I'm a survivor, I said. But I didn't think that claim would carry much weight in an obituary.
Tobias Wolff
#53. These are the best things I've ever had in my mouth!
Mora Early
#54. Give the People what they want - and they'll get what they deserve.
The Kinks
#55. Beautiful irony. Fall in love with yourself. Let your love express itself and the world will beat a path to your door to fall in love with you.
Kamal Ravikant
#56. But the irony is that because the band isn't the focus any more, it allows me the chance to enjoy being a member of Def Leppard much more.
Rick Allen
#57. He looks at you like you're someone he's never met before, much less someone he once loved with high passion. The irony is, you can hardly blame him. I mean, check yourself out. You're a pathetic mess, unrecognizable even to your own eyes.
Elizabeth Gilbert
#58. They only asked for punishments that fitted their crimes. Not ones that came like cupboards with built-in bedrooms. Not ones you spent your whole life in, wandering through its maze of shelves.
Arundhati Roy
#59. I always thought the biggest failing of Americans was their lack of irony. They are very serious there! Naturally, there are exceptions ... the Jewish, Italian, and Irish humor of the East Coast.
Colin Firth
#60. In these night recitations we create a space between things as we felt them at the time and as we speak them now. This is the space reserved for irony, sympathy and fond amusement, the means by which we rescue ourselves from the past.
Don DeLillo
#61. Irony is the attendant of hope and the fuel of hope is innocence.
Paul Fussell
#62. You're not going to tell me they built fifty-foot-high killer golems, are you?"
"Only a man would think of that.
It's our job," said Moist. "If you don't think of fifty-foot-high killer golems first, someone else will.
Terry Pratchett
#63. It is the central irony of my life that when I want something and end up getting it, it makes me profoundly uncomfortable.
Jennifer Armintrout
#64. The irony is that when we're standing across from someone who is hidden or shielded by masks and armor, we feel frustrated and disconnected. That's the paradox here: Vulnerability is the last thing I want you to see in me, but the first thing I look for in you. If
Brene Brown
#65. Some two thousand stone-throwing protesters gathered in the street outside the school. They chanted, "We want fairness. There is no fairness if you don't let us cheat." It sounds like a joke, but they were absolutely serious.
Cathy O'Neil
#67. Irony of "importance": Those who deserve, don't get it; Those who don't, get it in abundance by you.
Shivam Singh
#69. How'd you sleep?"
"Like an angel."
"Oh, the irony.
Alivia Anders
#70. It wasn't long after the discovery of modern anesthesia that people began to die of it.
Wolf Pascoe
#72. I will take all my rights! Can you deliver them to my house?
Ljupka Cvetanova
#73. And after night comes day, or more night, depending on the particular time-frame you choose to apply to your perspective.
Adam Roberts
#74. All the pathos and irony of leaving one's youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveller learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.
Paul Fussell
#75. People are complex, and I think it's a huge element of what I do, because you have to balance out the fact that you talk about quite serious things with a sense of irony and tongue-in-cheek humor. That's my personality as well.
Marina And The Diamonds
#76. God, what a ghastly enterprise to be in, though
and what an odd way to achieve success. I'm an exhibitionist who wants to hide, but is unsuccessful at hiding; therefore, somehow I succeed.
David Foster Wallace
#77. I still couldn't imagine that she was really, truly pregnant; maybe this was an hysterical pregnancy. But Sarah was never hysterical. Enthusiastic, yes, ironic on occasion. I couldn't imagine a doctor saying, No, it's just an ironic pregnancy.
James Lileks
#78. Now all you need is to make a V with your hand and say in a death rattle that you have been and always shall be his friend," Ian noted with heavy irony.
"Why would I ... " I began. Then understanding dawned.
"Holy crap, you're a closet Trekkie!
Jeaniene Frost
#79. Life is surreal. When you step back and really take a look at it, the irony is absolute.
Julieanne O'Connor
#80. The accident was a horrible thing - but that horrible thing made Chris, at the end of his life, Superman. It's a happy irony if there is such a thing. I'm proud to have known him.
Morgan Freeman
#81. You should never try irony or self-effacing humour.
Tim Robbins
#82. Trusting no man as his friend, he could not recognize his enemy when the latter actually appeared.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
#83. When people affected by epilepsy are reluctant to expose their condition, the public remains in the dark about it - a tragic irony that has made patient care and raising funds for research more than challenging.
Lynda Resnick
#84. Every atom in your body spins and dances
like a bee around the queen,
like a whirling dervish,
like the stars spiraling in a galaxy.
Yet why do you sit motionlessly watching Dancing With the Stars?
Khang Kijarro Nguyen
#85. It seemed that, after contact with a few human generations, sand hogs would begin to understand human speech. The irony was that after coming to understand their riders fully, the beasts often ended up abandoning them and heading off into the wilderness.
Neal Asher
#86. Pessimism is a funny thing, isn't it? Madison thought as she looked at Judith's furrowed face. I like a bit of pessimism as much as the next man, but when I'm bombarded with it I suddenly became an eternal optimist.
Melissa Kite
#87. Although my life is far from perfect, the irony is that in a divorced parent's custody schedule - with days on and days off - instead of like it was before, when I felt ragged and still oddly guilty all the time, now I feel guilty but not ragged.
Sandra Tsing Loh
#88. The machine captured that old sense of irony in death: you can know how it's going to happen, but you'll still be surprised when it does.
Ryan North
#89. It is really not so repulsive to see the poor asking for money as to see the rich asking for more money. And advertisement is the rich asking for more money.
G.K. Chesterton
#90. ... Miss Marjoribanks was of the numerous class of religionists who keep up civilities with heaven, and pay all the proper attentions, and show their respect for the divine government in a manner befitting persons who know the value of their own approbation.
Mrs. Oliphant
#91. My father could be very witty, even if the humor was always on the darker side of irony.
Maurice Sendak
#92. There is no greater cruelty than a genius stumbling over something idiotic.
Friedrich Durrenmatt
#93. The greatest irony in the world is that you are so blessed and don't know it.
Esther Hicks
#94. Not every problem can be solved by you trying to get yourself killed.
Martha Wells
#95. How bold we are. We shy from a flame that licks the tip of our finger for a fraction of a second, and from which we are allowed the luxury of escape. But most of humankind flaunt their disobedience in the face of an eternal fire that engulfs all, and from which there is no escape. Ever.
Laurence B. Brown
#96. When it was over, she gathered him in her arms. And told him the terrible irony of her life.
That she had wanted to be dead all those years while her brother had been alive. That had been her sin.
And this was her penance.
Wanting to live when everyone else seemed dead.
Melina Marchetta
#97. That's the difference between irony and sarcasm. Irony can be spontaneous, while sarcasm requires volition. You have to create sarcasm.
Christopher Moore
#99. In the works of Duchamp, space begins to walk and take on form; it becomes a machine that spins arguments and philosophizes; it resists movement with delay and delay with irony.
Octavio Paz
#100. Last September 16th, I was walking in downtown Seattle when this pick-up truck pulls up in front of me. Guy leans out the window and yells, "Go back to your own country," and I was laughing so hard because it wasn't so much a hate crime as a crime of irony.
Sherman Alexie
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