Sir, you are like a pin, but without either its head or its point.
Source: Speaking to a small thin man who was boring him. Attrib.
-- Douglas Jerrold, (Jan 3 1803-1857), English humorist, playwright, journalist; He edited Douglas Jerrold's Shilling Magazine, 1856; wrote Handbook of Swindling, and Other Papers, c. 1900.