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Laughter
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“I sum up the prospects for 1967 in three short sentences. We are back on course. (Loud Ministerial cheers and Opposition laughter.) The ship is picking up speed. (More Ministerial cheers.) Every seaman knows the command at such a moment: "Steady as she goes". (Laughter and cheers.)”
James Callaghan (1912–2005) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Budget speech in the House of Commons (11 April 1967), quoted in The Times (12 April 1967), p. 7
“I would say laughter is the best medicine. But it’s more than that. It’s an entire regime of antibiotics and steroids. Laughter brings the swelling down on our national psyche, and then applies an antibiotic cream... Obviously, it’s a challenge to make light of the darkness but, um, it’s better than crying about it.”
Stephen Colbert (born 1964) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Entertainment Weekly interview (4 January 2007)
“What can be considered human emotions? Surely not only lyricism, sadness, tragedy? Doesn't laughter also have a claim to that lofty title? I want to fight for the legitimate right of laughter in "serious" music.”
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an article in Sovetskoye Iskusstvo, November 5, 1934; translation from Laurel Fay Shostakovich: A Life (2000) p. 77.
“I see that Mr. Lloyd George last night confessed that he read the betting news in the papers. (Laughter.) Ah! I shake my head at the Rake's Progress. (Laughter.) ... The only Liberal contribution to the programme advocated by Mr. Lloyd George is its headline... It is just a certain amount of improvised jazz—that is their programme.”
Ramsay MacDonald (1866–1937) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Madeley in the Wreckin Division in response to the Liberal Party's "Orange Book", We can Conquer Unemployment (27 March 1929), quoted in The Times (28 March 1929), p. 16
“The great thing about people with intellectual disabilities is that they’re not people who discuss philosophy... What they want is fun and laughter, to do things together and fool around, and laughter is at the heart of community.”
Jean Vanier (1928–2019) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Gift of Living With the Not Gifted Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2015
“Laughter is strange in that if we think of all the emotions that we're able to express or feel, one of the things about laughter that's particularly interesting to me is it's one of the few emotions that robs your pain of its power.”
Trevor Noah (born 1984) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sex, Comedy and Context: A Live Conversation with Trevor Noah" on Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel, found on DeepCast (19 March 2024)
“The Laughter of Women ...Prisoners in underground cells imagine that they see daylight when they remember the laughter of women ...What language it is ... Long before law and scripture ...we understood freedom.”
Lisel Mueller (1924–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“First, you must never let laughter stop you… People will always have opinions of what you do and who you are, but you can’t let their opinions and their laughter stop you… Second, don’t let people steal your voice. Your voice is your power.”
Yawa Hansen-Quao (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A young person today has a nanosecond attention span, so whatever you do in a humor has to be short. Younger people do not wait for anything that takes time to develop. We're going totally to one-liners. Telling a joke is risk taking. Younger people are more insecure and not willing to put themselves on the line, so a quick one-liner is much safer.”
Robert Orben (1928–2023) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Warren St. John, The New York Times (May 28, 2005) "Wit's end: The death of the joke - Old-style wisecracks are passe in an age of decreasing attention spans, political correctness and the Internet", The Orlando Sentine…
“It always seems to someone outside the business that it is very difficult to write for a comedy show because it must be done quickly. Actually, it is much easier to write this humor than to do a joke or a show from scratch, because the audience knows the plot. Just mention what is going on and then deliver the punch line.”
Robert Orben (1928–2023) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lauren Keeport (February 3, 1998) "Scandal feeds maelstrom of Clinton jokes - 'Monicagate' a windfall for TV wits", The Washington Times, p. A2.
“Not that I don't think irreverent humor and someone being filthy is funny, I just do what I do. Any comedian would admit throwing an f-bomb in there would help get a reaction. … I'm not on a Puritanical pursuit, but when I would curse in a joke, I believe I'm not done writing it.”
Jim Gaffigan (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tim Brouk (September 6, 2007) "Jim Gaffigan returns to his old stomping grounds, Purdue", Journal and Courier, pp. 1, 2D.
“That was a joke. Or a metaphor.” Covenant made another effort to turn his sarcasm into humor. “I can never tell the difference.”
Stephen R. Donaldson (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’ve had it. My “Law of Merited Impossibility” (“It will never happen, and when it does, you bigots will deserve it”) was meant as a joke, but the reality it pointed to was serious. Now it’s not even funny in a black-humor way. It’s just true. I don’t believe there is any limiting principle to the destruction that progressives will bring.”
Rod Dreher (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Respect doesn't mean that you don't have a sense of humor! On the contrary, the fact that you can share a joke means you respect them, you’re disarming yourself and letting them know that you are not all that different to them.”
Columba Macbeth-Green (born 1968) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bagpipe-playing Australian bishop faces challenges with a joke and a smile (4 July 2019)
“Well, I mean, if a joke or humor is bawdy, it's got to be funny enough to warrant it. You can't just have it bawdy or dirty just for the sake of being that — it's got to be funny.”
Betty White (1922–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A sense of humor is a measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge.”
Dave Barry (born 1947) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Originally published in "Encyclopedia Tropicana: A Reference Book for the Modern World, Volume 1" by Joel Achenbach, The Miami Herald, May 4, 1986; quoted by Bryan Curtis, "Dave Barry: Elegy for the humorist," Slate, Ja…
“Now everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody Else, but when it happens to you, why it seems to lose some of its Humor, and if it keeps on happening, why the entire laughter kinder Fades out of it.”
Will Rogers (1879–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My mother ... had a wonderful sense of humor, and I learned from her that the highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion.”
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Humor and pathos, tears and laughter are, in the highest expression of human character and achievement, inseparable.”
James Thurber (1894–1961) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Case for Comedy", Lanterns & Lances (1961); previously appeared in The Atlantic Monthly November 1960
“Finding a woman with a sense of humor had been the one piece of advice his father had given him when he'd first begun to get serious about dating, and he finally understood why his dad had considered it important. If conversation was the lyrics, laughter was the music, making time spent together a melody that could be replayed over and over without getting stale.”
Nicholas Sparks (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I understand the value of humor and I do believe laughter is a good medicine.”
Melissa Leo (born 1960) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Melissa speak on humor in 2019.
“I remember when humor was gentle pokes. I used to call it 'arm around the shoulder' humor. Now they go for the jugular and they take no prisoners. It's mean, mean stuff.”
Robert Orben (1928–2023) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Steve Lowery (October 23, 1993) "What's So Funny? Humor Comes Under Harsh Glare of Political Correctness", Press-Telegram, p. C1.
“Humor is a marvelous communications tool, as Reagan has demonstrated so well. He has weathered many a storm that others might not have. With Reagan, people just say, 'There he goes again.' A sense of humor allows a president to back off a little from the tensions of the moment and take a calmer view of things.”
Robert Orben (1928–2023) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Phil Gailey (June 12, 1988) "Presidential politics should be more of a laughing matter", St. Petersburg Times, p. 5D.
“Humor gives presidents the chance to be seen as warm, relaxed persons. Humor reaches out and puts its arm around the listener and says, 'I am one of you, I understand,' and implicitly it promises, 'I will do something about your problems.'”
Robert Orben (1928–2023) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: William Lowther (September 21, 1986) "Americans laugh at their presidents -- not with them", The Toronto Star, p. B3.
“Humor is the most honest of emotions. Applause for a speech can be insincere, but with humor, if the audience doesn't like it there's no faking it.”
Robert Orben (1928–2023) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Leslie Berger (January 28, 1982) "A Little Night Humor", The Washington Post, C1.
“Beware of getting involved with people who seem to be able to feel good but have no close friends. They may be witty and fun to be around, but their humor is all put-downs and hostility. If you marry such a person, you will soon be the recipient of that hostile humor and may regret it for the rest of your marriage....Someone who does not have good friends does not know how to love.”
William Glasser (1925–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nine-tenths of the value of a sense of humor in writing is not in the things it makes one write but in the things it keeps one from writing. It is especially valuable in this respect in serious writing, and no one without a sense of humor should ever write seriously. For without knowing what is funny, one is constantly in danger of being funny without knowing it.”
Robert Benchley (1889–1945) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: LIFE magazine (8 March 1929)
“Humor is...nearer right than any emotion we have. Humor is the atmosphere in which grace most flourishes.”
Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) first seen 1874 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Unjust Judgments (1874)
“Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully important in this day and age. Humor has a tremendous place in this sordid world. It's more than just a matter of laughing. If you can see things out of whack, then you can see how things can be in whack.”
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Author Isn't Just a Cat in the Hat" by Miles Corwin in The Los Angeles Times (27 November 1983); also in Dr. Seuss: American Icon (2004) by Philip Nel, p. 38
“Without humor, a sports fan is a religious fanatic. Without humor, a newscast is a terrible, depressing, unpalatable thing.”
Keith Olbermann (born 1959) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: News duo thinking young" by David Bauder, Deseretnews.com (2003-12-09)
“Philosophy and theology have no effect on him, much less plain common sense. Impossible to convince this man by arguments. But humor he always listens to, even though it be ill humor. A typical Icelander, perhaps.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I used to think that humor was the only way to appreciate how wonderful and terrible the world is, to celebrate how big life is. But now I think the opposite. Humor is a way of shrinking from that wonderful and terrible world.”
Jonathan Safran Foer (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Within him, there's awful darkness, in the darkness a small boy. God of humor, do something about him, OK? God of humor, do something about him today.”
Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“there's such a sense of humor and irony in Native American life, in tribal life. I mean, that's one of the things that does not get portrayed often enough-that there's such an irony and humor. (1986)”
Louise Erdrich (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think levity and humor can be used to tackle larger themes that are darker. Loneliness can be damaging, but when you’re feeling lonely, you do some of your most productive thinking. I wanted to show the idea of loneliness in that light – that humor works in tandem with the joy to be found in self-examination.”
Rakesh Satyal first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the role of humor in “‘Rakesh Satyal: How I Write” in Writer Magazine (2018 Nov 19)
“Humor is absolutely necessary to keep going…So many of the people in my family and my community were wonderful storytellers. They would tell stories about just awful things that happened to them. But their humor made what happened into their own kind of triumph.”
Stephanie Powell Watts first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the importance of humor in “INTERVIEWS: Stephanie Powell Watts” in BookPage (April 2017)
“Paul’s sense of humor is more like a humor singularity, from which nothing funny can escape.”
Curtis C. Chen (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m bored if I’m not trying to be funny, I always try to keep a sense of humor, at least with the cast. I want to bring out their creativity and humor and let them know that the set is a place where they’re not being judged. If everyone’s having a good time, then they’re probably feeling looser and more creative.”
Jon Turteltaub (born 1963) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with director Jon Turtletaub (November 25, 2018)
“Doing something controversial was never my intention. This was just my sense of humor, and the kind of humor in my family. I never drew anything my mom wouldn’t have laughed at. Of course, my mom was insane. I’m kidding! Well, maybe a little.”
Gary Larson (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The virtuosity and visual humor of people like A.B. Frost, T.S. Sullivant, and Thomas Nast of course, have so much depth and innate humor that I couldn't really resist cross hatching. Later day cross-hatchers like Ron Cobb and Bill Plympton were also early influences.”
Matt Wuerker (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Participation in international humor events has brought me many other influences. My work style includes a large dose of “esthetic vampirism,” in that I’ve absorbed a lot from a lot of different people. But I have a central axis, my major cartoon characters, who have been changing in their own right along with the changes in the type of humor that I happen to be doing.”
ARES (artist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“(about humor) It's a survival technique, too. People who are in poverty, people who are in very difficult situations and in pain, have to develop humor or die of despair.”
Linda Hogan (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If we observe what causes us to lose our sense of humor, we can identify our point of attachment. Where we maintain our sense of humor is where we are detached and can remain flexible. (p111)”
Angeles Arrien (1940–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Humor is so important! Life is absurd. It truly is. And in The Perfect Find, the characters find themselves in some dramatic situations that call for some levity – a quip, a witticism, a bit of banter. It’s very much a Black thing to use humor to cope with outrageous circumstances!”
Tia Williams (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Danja: "She was cool. She had a dark sense of humor that I can’t explain. She might just say something crazy that you might feel is out of line. But it’s not. It’s just her sense of humor. She was in the studio chilling with us, being open and the whole nine." .”
Madonna (entertainer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every time I hear somebody doubt me, I just laugh about it Keeps me hungry, focused on the cash Trust me, don't fuck with me or catch you disrespecting me There's friends of mine do whatever I ask See, your ass is just a joke Front but love me on the low Stop the swinging from my dick Bitch, get off my shit”
Eamon (singer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's the fault of those physicists and that synchronicity theory, every particle being connected with every other; you can't fart without changing the balance in the universe. It makes living a funny joke with nobody around to laugh. I open a book and get a report on future events that even God would like to file and forget. And who am I? The wrong person; I can tell you that.”
Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have never been able to see life as anything but a vast complicated practical joke, and it’s better to laugh than cry.”
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anytime you have to threaten people to get them to laugh at your joke you have to consider it less than successful, okay?”
Kim Stanley Robinson (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is someone you know anorexic? A good joke would be to tell them that they're fat. They'll laugh because anorexic people aren't fat. HAHAH”