Wit & Attitude Quote by Giacomo Casanova

Casanova’s genius here is the backhanded mercy: he makes room for decency without surrendering his contempt. “Very honest fellows” arrives first like a concession, then he twists the knife with “all their stupidity,” a phrase that pretends to be merely observational while quietly reasserting his social dominance. This is the memoirist’s balancing act: he wants to look fair-minded, even generous, while still enjoying the sport of classification.

The intriguing move is his separation of intelligence into types. He grants them “a kind of intelligence” and “upright good sense,” as if streetwise judgment and moral clarity can exist without polish, education, or conversational sparkle. The subtext is less democratic than it sounds. Casanova isn’t arguing that everyone is smart in their own way; he’s preserving his right to be dazzled by himself. Their competence is framed as an exception that proves his rule: they’re stupid, yet somehow not fools.

That distinction matters in the 18th-century world he inhabited, where wit was currency and “fool” wasn’t just an insult but a category: someone unfit for serious regard. Casanova, moving between aristocrats, clerics, and hustlers, had to read people quickly. The line reflects a professional seducer’s pragmatism: you can’t con a man you’ve misjudged, and you can’t navigate society if you mistake plainspoken integrity for emptiness.

It’s also Casanova polishing his own brand. He’s worldly enough to spot virtue in the unglamorous, sophisticated enough to mock them anyway.