bon mot

Those who held him were disarmed, the bon-mot flew through the croud, and the Abbe escaped while they were applauding it.

The bon-mot of Talleyrand is going the round: 'It is really time that Russian czars changed their manner of dying.'

A joke, a banter, a bon-mot, make more impression upon the man of the world than all the grave notions of his religion.

There is recorded a bon-mot of Sir Thomas on the birth of his son.