Wit lies in recognizing the resemblance among things which differ and the difference between things which are alike.

Cleverness of the best kind is really a way of seeing. It spots the hidden likeness between a political crisis and a family argument, and it catches the crucial distinction between two things everyone else has lumped together. Both moves surprise people, which is why they make us laugh or think, and both depend on looking past surface categories.

Try this with a problem you are stuck on. Ask what utterly different situation it resembles and how that one was handled, then ask what everyone is treating as identical that is actually not.