An oxymoron is one of the best and wittiest figures of speech there is. There are many famous oxymoron quotes by well-known personalities. They will not only make the concept easier for you to understand, but are also guaranteed to leave you in splits.
“… a figure in which the parts of a period or sentence disagree in sound, but perfectly accord with one another in meaning; or, if I may call it, it is sense in the masquerade of folly.”
― Thomas Gibbons (on oxymoron)
Nothings sums up an oxymoron better than this quote by the renowned British writer, Mr. Gibbons. Oxymoron brings two words with contradictory meanings together, the end result of which is a phrase that is inadvertently funny (in most cases).
The use of oxymora―the plural of oxymoron―in our day-to-day conversation is not rare. In fact, if you have a keen ear for this figure of speech, you will notice some hilarious things people say―not just the people around you, but some prominent personalities as well―intentionally or unintentionally. Some of the best examples of oxymoron are act naturally, clearly confused, known secret, and small crowd.
Famous Oxymoron Quotes
Though not all, most of the quotes containing oxymoron examples are hilarious to the core. While “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”, one of the famous quotes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, may not leave you in splits, Yogi Berra’s “Nobody goes to Miami in the Winter. It’s too crowded.” surely will. Given below are a few quotes, some of which are very funny and some … not so funny.
A joke is a very serious thing. ― Winston Churchill
Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history. ― George Bernard Shaw
Simplicity is not a simple thing. ― Charles Chaplin
I love humanity, but I hate people. ― Edna St. Vincent Millay
Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use. ― Wendell Johnson
I can resist anything, except temptation. ― Oscar Wilde
Always be sincere, even when you don’t mean it. ― Irene Peter
Responsible Drinking? Now that’s an Oxymoron. ― Aaron Howard
If I could drop dead right now, I’d be the happiest man alive. ― Samuel Goldwyn
The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep. ― W.C. Fields
The building was pretty ugly and a little big for its surroundings. ― Steinbeck
I find nothing more depressing than optimism. ― Paul Fussell
If you fall and break your legs, don’t come running to me. ― Samuel Goldwyn
I never liked you, and I always will. ― Samuel Goldwyn
To lead the people, walk behind them. ― Lao-Tzu
I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron. ― Harold Bloom
I am a deeply superficial person. ― Andy Warhol
The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. ― Mark Twain
I always advise people never to give advice. ― P.G. Wodehouse
First, I have the privilege of being Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It is not an oxymoron I assure you. ― Pat Roberts
The list of oxymora is quite long, which implies that we will never fall short of quotes associated with them. If you are aware of any such quotes, or you have some of your own quotes to share, we would like to hear from you … after all it is an ‘open secret’ that everybody likes to laugh.