Aging & Wisdom Quote by William Wycherley

Wycherley is selling a weapon disguised as a compliment: in a world where women are appraised like property, wit becomes the one trait that can’t be safely priced, pinned down, or possessed. The line flatters “young women” while also smuggling in a mandate. Beauty is passive capital; wit is agency, and therefore the more “necessary” currency for surviving the Restoration marketplace of flirtation, marriage, and social cruelty. Calling wit necessary isn’t just taste-making. It’s a survival tip.

The subtext is ruthlessly transactional. “Ugly” and “handsome” are treated as public verdicts, not private feelings. Wycherley then flips the ledger: wit can cancel ugliness, while beauty can’t purchase agreeableness. That last word matters. “Agreeable” sounds gentle, but it’s social power: the ability to hold attention, steer conversation, and win the room. A “handsome” woman without wit becomes decorative dead weight, an object that can be admired but not endured.

Context sharpens the bite. Wycherley wrote for Restoration comedy, a genre built on verbal fencing, erotic competition, and the exposure of hypocrisy. Onstage, wit is often the only way a character keeps autonomy against schemes, gossip, and the looming economics of marriage. The line sounds gallant, even progressive, until you notice the trap: women are still being judged, just by a different metric. Wycherley doesn’t abolish the male gaze; he upgrades it into an ear.