Buffoon Quotes

Today's television sitcoms ... the father is typically depicted as a clumsy buffoon, an inane and even unnecessary appendage. In creating that caricature, producers and directors have done irreparable damage to the God-ordained image of what may be one of the most significant roles and offices in eternity - that of a father, that of a real man. ~ Robert L. Millet

I am an inveterate buffoon, and been from birth up, your reverence, it's as though it were a craze in me. I dare say it's a devil within me. But only a little one. A more serious one would have chosen another lodging. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Once I became a total buffoon, it was so liberating. ~ Joaquin Phoenix

Runts? Pipsqueaks? Who was that buffoon! ~ Dennis L. McKiernan

The colonel laughed, effectively halting Bingley's speech. "Uncharacteristically reclusive? Do we speak if the same man? Darcy's very character is defined by his reclusiveness! He prefers to keep his own counsel, especially when he ought to do the opposite - the bacon-brained buffoon. ~ KaraLynne Mackrory

What would you have me do?
Seek for the patronage of some great man,
And like a creeping vine on a tall tree
Crawl upward, where I cannot stand alone?
No thank you! Dedicate, as others do,
Poems to pawnbrokers? Be a buffoon
In the vile hope of teasing out a smile
On some cold face? No thank you! Eat a toad
For breakfast every morning? Make my knees
Callous, and cultivate a supple spine,-
Wear out my belly grovelling in the dust?
No thank you! Scratch the back of any swine
That roots up gold for me? Tickle the horns
Of Mammon with my left hand, while my right
Too proud to know his partner's business,
Takes in the fee? No thank you! Use the fire
God gave me to burn incense all day long
Under the nose of wood and stone? No thank you!
Shall I go leaping into ladies' laps
And licking fingers?-or-to change the form-
Navigating with madrigals for oars,
My sails full of the sighs of dowagers?
No thank you! Publish verses at my own
Expense? No thank you! Be the patron saint
Of a small group of literary souls
Who dine together every Tuesday? No
I thank you! Shall I labor night and day
To build a reputation on one song,
And never write another? Shall I find
True genius only among Geniuses,
Palpitate over little paragraphs,
And struggle to insinuate my name
In the columns of the Mercury?
No thank you! Calculate, scheme, be a ~ Edmond Rostand

L.A. It was a big sunny buffoon of a city; corny and ornate and disorganized but kind of fun. The last hallucination, the dwindled fragment of - what had Fitzgerald called it? - "the last and greatest of all human dreams." It was where we'd run out of room, where the dream had run up against the ocean, and human voices woke us. Los Angeles was the butt end, where we'd spat it out with our mouths tasting of ashes, but a genial failure of a place for all of that. ~ Robert B. Parker

Mark Twain made black people look like buffoons," [says Michael].
Mort doesn't look up. He doesn't know what we're talking about, but that doesn't stop him from joining the conversation. "Michael," says Mort, "Mark Twain made everybody look like buffoons. He was an equal opportunity buffoon maker. ~ Paul Acampora

When you depart from standard usage, it should be deliberate and not an accidental lapse. Like a poet who breaks the rules of poetry for creative effect, this only works when you know and respect the rule you are breaking. If you have never heard of the rules you are breaking, you have no right to do so, and you are likely to come off like a buffoon or a barbarian. Breaking rules, using slang and archaic language can be effective, but it is just as likely to give you an audience busy with wincing. ~ N.D. Wilson

I always hope people will like me, and I'm always afraid they will think I'm a fraud. I try harder than perhaps I should to make people like me, then it backfires. They think I'm a buffoon. ~ Jay McInerney

That's where I'm comfortable - playing a jackass on the scene, rolling in with my pocket watch and my buffoon hairdo, with my shoes. ~ Alan Tudyk

She was pleased her husband still thought her attractive, despite her beached-whale state, but was finding it increasingly awkward to accommodate him. The spirit was willing but the flesh was swollen. Still, she enjoyed the compliment and understood that there was no real demand behind the caresses. The earl knew her well enough to realize she valued his desire almost as much as his love. After a lifetime of feeling ugly and unworthy, Alexia was now tolerably assured that Conall genuinely did want her, even if they could do nothing about it at present. She also understood that he was expressing his conjugal interest partly out of knowledge of her own need for such assurances. A werewolf and a buffoon, her husband, but wonderfully caring once he'd blundered into the way of it. ~ Gail Carriger

In the cycle of a great civilization, the artist begins as priest, and ends as a clown or buffoon. ~ Malcolm Muggeridge

I'm equal part genius, equal part buffoon. ~ Noel Gallagher

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi looks in the mirror and sees a playboy of the old school. And men such as Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Charlie Sheen no doubt look at Berlusconi and think, 'Role model!' Women, of course, know otherwise. They see him as an aging, pathetic buffoon. ~ Graydon Carter

I don't mind being a buffoon. ~ Stewart Rahr

A joker is near akin to a buffoon; and neither of them is the least related to wit. ~ Lord Chesterfield

Though I can't like this idea of yours, Val, simply confronting the man, no magistrate about, no one but Wee Nick on hand to enforce the king's peace." "Wee Nick," said the man himself, "outranks the pusillanimous buffoon, has double his weight, double his reach, and at least five times his brain power. And should my charming presence fail to inspire him to good conduct, you will be waiting in the wings, ready to rescue us." "Rescue ~ Grace Burrowes

Well! I'm glad you didn't call him a buffoon." "Or pompous," Pauline added. "Or ignorant," Jeb chimed in. "Or an ass," Kaden said. "I didn't call him an ass." Rafe grunted. "You may as well have." Now ~ Mary E. Pearson

You're never going to see me playing a buffoon. ~ Bernie Mac

Leo cried, "Hold on! Let's have some manners here. Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?"
"I am Cal!" the ox grunted. He looked very proud of himself, like he'd taken a long time to memorize that sentence.
"That's short for Calais," the love god said. "Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables--"
"Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!" Cal offered.
"--which includes his own name," the love god finished.
"I am Cal," Cal repeated. "And this is Zethes! My brother!"
"Wow," Leo said. "That was almost three sentences, man! Way to go."
Cal grunted, obviously pleased with himself.
"Stupid buffoon," his brother grumbled. "They make fun of you. But no matter. I am Zethes, which is short for Zethes. And the lady there--" He winked at piper, but the wink was more like a facial seizure. "She can call me anything she likes. Perhaps she would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we must destroy you? ~ Rick Riordan

The "tycoon or buffoon" strategy is meant to amuse the public, to make Americans believe he either is as successful as he claims to be - after all, The New York Times vouches for him! - or is such an obvious phony that he could not be capable of pulling off a massive criminal enterprise without repercussions. ~ Sarah Kendzior

Tis obvious that you're easily…" She paused, searching for a more sarcastic and descriptive word than "encouraged."
"Aroused?" he queried.
Erienne gasped. "Certainly not!"
"Have you changed your mind? You said at a twitch of a skirt…"
"I know what I said!"
"The subject seems to be on your mind quite a bit, my lady."
"I wonder why," she retorted with unmistakable satire. It was impossible to ignore the manly feel of him against her.
"Because you lust after my body?" he asked, feigning innocence.
Erienne caught her breath in outrage. "I am a married woman, sir!"
He heaved a laborious sigh. "Here we go again!"
"Oh, you buffoon! Why don't you leave me alone?"
"Did I ask you to follow me?" he protested.
She groaned aloud in frustration. "I'm sorry I did!"
"Were you bruised?" He snuggled her closer against his body. "You feel all right to me."
"Christopher, if I weren't so afraid of this horse, I'd slap you," she threatened.
"Why? I only inquired of your health."
"Because you make free with your hands! Now, stop that!" She threw away the hand that had settled on her thigh. "Don't you ever get tired of playing the rake?"
"The sport warms and excites me, madam," he said, chuckling in her ear.

-Erienne & Christopher ~ Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

Olympus has been a much welcomed return to my Shakespearean roots. King Aegeus demanded a much greater range and depth that I've yet had the opportunity to tap on camera. Lab Rats was a wonderful opportunity for me to just go be a goofy buffoon, which I love. It was exhilarating to listen to all the funny lines the writers would come up with on the spot and then get to play them immediately. ~ Graham Shiels

I wasn't going to kill him, you buffoon. ~ Sarah J. Maas

I'll explain and I'll use small words so that you'll be sure to understand, you warthog faced buffoon. ~ Cary Elwes

Phillip Roth uses his Black women characters to make anti intellectual remarks about Black history month, begun by a man who reached intellectual heights that Roth will never attain.Roth is a petty bigot and his ignorant remarks about black culture expose him as a buffoon to scholars the world over. ~ Ishmael Reed

Merlyn took the Wart's hand and said kindly, You are young, and do not understand these things. But you will learn that owls are the most courteous, single-hearted and faithful creatures living. You must never be familiar, rude or vulgar with them, or make them look ridiculous. Their mother is Athene, the goddess of wisdom, and, although they are often ready to play the buffoon to amuse you, such conduct is the prerogative of the truly wise. No owl can possibly be called Archie. ~ T.H. White

Why had this good-looking moll chosen this effeminate buffoon, they all wanted to know. But Jimmy understood why immediately. Because he allowed her to be free. ~ Heather O'Neill

That spring Larry Ellison saw Amelio at a party and introduced him to the technology journalist Gina Smith, who asked how Apple was doing. "You know, Gina, Apple is like a ship," Amelio answered. "That ship is loaded with treasure, but there's a hole in the ship. And my job is to get everyone to row in the same direction." Smith looked perplexed and asked, "Yeah, but what about the hole?" From then on, Ellison and Jobs joked about the parable of the ship. "When Larry relayed this story to me, we were in this sushi place, and I literally fell off my chair laughing," Jobs recalled. "He was just such a buffoon, and he took himself so seriously. He insisted that everyone call him Dr. Amelio. That's always a warning sign. ~ Walter Isaacson

I've always had a reputation as a buffoon. ~ Willard Scott

When I did comedy I made fun of myself. If there was a buffoon, I played the buffoon. ~ Sid Caesar

"Half genius and half buffoon," Freeman Dyson ... wrote ... [Richard] Feynman struck him as uproariously American-unbuttoned and burning with physical energy. It took him a while to realize how obsessively his new friend was tunneling into the very bedrock of modern science. ~ James Gleick

crapulent buffoon with the IQ of a tampon. ~ John Niven

I think some people see me as being some kind of lovable, bumbling buffoon, and I'm actually quite mouthy and sharp, and that doesn't compute. ~ Nick Frost

Some [jests] are becoming to a gentleman, others are not; see that you choose such as become you. Irony better befits a gentleman than buffoonery; the ironical man jokes to amuse himself, the buffoon to amuse other people. ~ Aristotle.

He glanced at the screen. It was from Mark.
CAN'T FIND TY.
Julian frowned and thumbed a reply while jogging up the steps after Emma. DID YOU LOOK IN HIS BEDROOM?
There was an ornate knocker on the front door in the shape of a wild-haired, wild-eyed Green Man. Emma lifted it and let it fall as Julian's phone beeped again.
DO YOU TAKE ME FOR A BUFFOON? OF COURSE I DID.
"Jules?" Emma said. "Is everything all right?"
"Buffoon?" he muttered, his fingers flying over the touch pad.
WHAT DOES LIVVY SAY?
"Did you just mutter 'buffoon'? Emma demanded. Julian could hear footsteps approaching from the other side of the door. 'Julian, try to act not weird, okay? ~ Cassandra Clare

Part of the beauty of me is that I'm very rich."
(Trump, Donald, R-N.Y., billionaire real estate mogul; reality show hot air buffoon; ABC News with Ashleigh Banfield; 3/17/2011.) ~ Donald Trump

There are two kinds of Fools. The real Fool is the most sincere of mortals: the Court Fool and his kind - the trifling, jesting buffoon - but simulate the family virtue, and steal the family name, for sordid purposes. ~ Albion W. Tourgee

This oath, which resides at the core of every iteration of Batman that has ever or will ever exist, from pulp antihero to TV buffoon, is much more practical and matter-of-fact. It is a declaration of war. The ~ Glen Weldon

I always wanted to play Lestrade of Scotland Yard 'cause he's a buffoon that gets to wear a uniform. I thought that would be fun. ~ Tom Hanks

It is by vivacity and wit that man shines in company; but trite jokes and loud laughter reduce him to a buffoon. ~ Lord Chesterfield

I took him for a kind of buffoon. Now I see he is a devil. ~ Iris Murdoch