Word: witting
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Thornton Bradshaw, president of Atlantic Richfield, directed his barbed wit against the Executive Branch's energy efforts. So far, he said, that branch has accomplished little other than creating needless jobs and promulgating senseless regulations. Said Bradshaw: "There is a basic rule: any regulation must be followed by another regulation that tries to overcome the problems raised by the first...
...with its inconsequential predecessor, but it weighs in at a whopping 264 pages, more than twice as long as Love Story. The problem is that Segal cannot make the same trick work twice. His style is exactly the same as in Love Story, but the sequel has neither the wit nor the brevity that made Love Story the dubious achievement that it was. Oliver's life as a widower simply is not interesting enough to fill that many pages. Perhaps the only encouraging thing about Oliver's Story is that one can slog though it in about three hours...
Throughout his ten-year career, Frank has used his wit, intellect and flair for the outrageous to distinguish himself. He had what is probably the most favorable press coverage of any politician in the state. Reporters find him extremely accessible and considerate--unlike most Boston politicians, he returns reporters' calls promptly and always provides clever quips. When the House created an Ethics Committee last month in the wake of the conviction of two state senators for extortion, Frank said, "Peer policing doesn't even work at West Point. The Committee should be banned with saccharin as an artificial sweetener...
...laissez-faire have not been too embarrassed to ask the government to bail them out of trouble. The book's title cannot be pushed too far. All ages have their unknowns and inconsistencies. If they did not, the author would find little on which to hone his wit-an effective weapon for getting at realities beneath the appearances. He notes, for example, that Adam Smith, the legendary theoretician of capitalism and unrestricted trade, ended his days as the commissioner of customs in Edinburgh. Galbraith also draws a marvelous parallel between Gogol's Dead Souls and the Equity Funding...
...through which the affluent must be threaded before they can emerge in paradise. Accordingly, if you are either rich or a camel, you should, as a purely practical calculation, enjoy life now." Behind this elegant raillery, Galbraith maintains a cool, doctor-patient relationship with the world. The combination of wit and seriousness makes him a distinguished popularizer and advocate who can waltz through wars, revolutions, famines, depressions and global follies without ever losing the crease of his Savile Row prose. R.Z. Sheppard