Famous quotes
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“Irony is jesting hidden behind gravity. Humor is gravity concealed behind the jest.”
John Weiss (1818–1879) first seen 1876 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wit, Humor, and Shakespeare: Twelve essays (1876), p. 63.
“The 4D style, or cosmic comics and relativistic humor, is based on Einstein's theory of relativity which I came up with 20 years ago. 4D works use the idea of the fourth dimension, time, playing on such surrealistic and amazing subjects as motion relativity, space curvature and time dilation.”
Javad Alizadeh (born 1953) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Cartoonist Alizadeh, translating world into humor" in Press TV (23 April 2009)
“My first goal is to create an attractive, interactive website that forms a community of chess lovers. I want to keep it light and keep people coming back ⎯ heavy on photos, humor, and simple chess tactics and strategies. I want to promote our top players to increase their visibility and their chances to make a living at chess.”
Jennifer Shahade (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Friends humor and flatter us, they steal our time, they encourage our love of ease, they make us content with ourselves, they are the foes of our virtue and our glory.”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One must cherish one's effigies, if one can tolerate them, perhaps more lovingly than one cherishes one's intrinsic self." That's the ABC of pride. And of humor.”
Françoise Sagan (1935–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not all cartoon humor is just about having bugged-out eyes and tongues flying out of people's heads.”
John Kricfalusi (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Rabbi Raditz of Poland was a very short rabbi with a long beard, who was said to have inspired many pogroms with his sense of humor. One of his disciples asked, "Who did God like better, Moses or Abraham?" "Abraham," the Zaddik said. "But Moses led the Israelites to the Promised Land," said the disciple. "All right, so Moses," the Zaddik answered.”
Woody Allen (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away and a sunny spirit takes their place.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) first seen 1897 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us?" (1897)
“Humor must not professedly teach, and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would live forever. By forever, I mean thirty years.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mark Twain in eruption: hitherto unpublished pages about men and events, 1940, Mark Twain, Bernard Augustine De Voto, Harper & brothers. This appears to be the origin of the variant:
“Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind.”
E. B. White (1899–1985) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Some Remarks on Humor," preface to A Subtreasury of American Humor (1941)
“I am a peace man. I haven't got any use for wars and there is no more humor in 'em than there is reason for 'em.”
Will Rogers (1879–1935) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Daily Telegram (4 December 1931), as quoted in Will Rogers' Daily Telegrams (1979), p. 104; also in Will Rogers Speaks: Over 1,000 Timeless Quotations for Public Speakers (1995) edited by Bryan B. Sterling and Frances …
“Precisely at 7 Patton boomed in to breakfast. His vigor was always infectious, his wit barbed, his conversation a mixture of obscenity and good humor. He was at once stimulating and overbearing. George was a magnificent soldier.”
Omar Bradley (1893–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If man had more of a sense of humor, things might have turned out differently.”
Stanisław Lem (1921–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There seems to be no lengths to which humorless people will not go to analyze humor. It seems to worry them.”
Robert Benchley (1889–1945) first seen 1903 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What Does It Mean?" in After 1903 — What? (1938)
“When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.”
John Lennon (1940–1980) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: During the Bed-In for Peace in Montreal, Canada (1 June 1969)
“I started life so self-judgmental. I call the voice in my head the ‘obnoxious roommate’; always putting me down, telling me I’m not good enough. And learning to actually deal with that voice, with a sense of humor – maybe getting it to dance with you – in order to evict it from my head. Then we are much more present”
Arianna Huffington (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Books ... hold within them the gathered wisdom of humanity, the collected knowledge of the world's thinkers, the amusement and excitement built up by the imaginations of brilliant people. Books contain humor, beauty, wit, emotion, thought, and, indeed, all of life. Life without books is empty.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Puzzles of the Black Widowers (1990), pp. 74-75
“Humor is a survival tool.”
Erica Jong (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[G]rave talk and grave humor with the doers of the craft. Building, walling, is an operation that beyond most other manual ones requires incessant consideration — even new invention. I have heard good judges say that he excelled in it all persons they had seen.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yet malice never was his aim; He lashed the vice but spared the name. No individual could resent, Where thousands equally were meant. His satire points at no defect But what all mortals may correct; For he abhorred that senseless tribe Who call it humor when they gibe.”
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) first seen 1731 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift (1731), l. 459
“Were I to prescribe a rule for drinking, it should be formed upon a saying quoted by Sir William Temple: the first glass for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humor, and the fourth for mine enemies.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) first seen 1711 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No. 195 (13 October 1711)
“I had always regarded the world of political humor as the exclusive domain of white men and immediately disqualified myself from participation. I know better now, its immensely pleasing when I'm referred to as a political comedian...”
Margaret Cho (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ideal being? An angel ravaged by humor.”
Emil Cioran (1911–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Power, unless managed with gentleness and discretion, does but make a man the more hated. No intervals of good-humor, no starts of bounty, will atone for tyranny and oppression.”
Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) said by 1726 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I may say that I 'got along fine' with Marshal Stalin. He is a man who combines a tremendous, relentless determination with a stalwart good humor. I believe he is truly representative of the heart and soul of Russia; and I believe that we are going to get along very well with him and the Russian people - very well indeed.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in History of American Political Thought (1943)
“I think you are absolutely right about everything, except I think humor springs from rage, hay fever, overdue rent and miscellaneous hell.”
Will Cuppy (1884–1949) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a letter to Max Eastman, 1936, about Eastman's book, The Enjoyment of Laughter (reprint). Eastman mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.
“If I didn't have a sense of humor, how could I stand this trial now?”
Hermann Göring (1893–1946) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn (27 May 1946)
“Be strong, believe in freedom and in God, love yourself, understand your sexuality, have a sense of humor, masturbate, don't judge people by their religion, color or sexual habits, love life and your family.”
Madonna (entertainer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Good evening, my name is Bill Hicks. I've been on the road now doing comedy 12 years, so, uh, bear with me while I plaster on a fake smile and plow through this shit one more time. … I'm kinda tired of traveling, kinda tired of doing comedy, kinda tired of staring out at your blank faces looking back at me, wanting me to fill your empty lives with humor you couldn't possibly think of yourselves.”
Bill Hicks (1961–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Humor is almost always anger with its makeup on, I think, but in little towns the makeup tends to be thin.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He said I was unequipped to meet life because I had no sense of humor.”
J. D. Salinger (1919–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Medical opinions differed as to the cause of this "humor" disease.”
Raymond Smullyan (1919–2017) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Planet Without Laughter (1980)
“Humor could not flourish in a wholly serious and rational atmosphere.”
Raymond Smullyan (1919–2017) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Planet Without Laughter (1980)
“I distrust all dead and mechanical formulas for expressing anything connected with human affairs and human personalities. Putting human affairs in exact formulas shows in itself a lack of the sense of humor and therefore a lack of wisdom.”
Lin Yutang (1895–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Humor is a way of coping with real trouble. … My next book [Slaughterhouse Five] is a comedy. It is about the largest massacre in the history of Europe.”
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vonnegut: Humor to cope with suffering" by Marcia Abramson, The Michigan Daily (22 January 1969), p. 2
“Humor is an almost physiological response to fear.”
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Humor is a way of holding off how awful life can be.”
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our ancient creed is correct. Rather than submitting to change we must divert the influences which conduce in such a direction.” Ramus Imph listened with patient good humor. “The remarks of the sagacious Servant are persuasive, even though they fail to correspond with reality.”
Jack Vance (1916–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But gallows humor is inseparable from dentistry: at one point I heard the good doctor say, as he plowed through the layers of plaque and tartar, “Good news. I’ve found some of your teeth.”
Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Limits of Self-improvement, Part II” (2007)
“Mayblossom Senility" (Steadman's phrase)...burnt out early or maybe just not much to burn in the first place. Not much energy in the faces, not much curiosity. Suffering in silence, nowhere to go after thirty in this life, just hang on and humor the children. Let the young enjoy themselves while they can. Why not?”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is characteristic of all deep human problems that they are not to be approached without some humor and some bewilderment.”
Freeman Dyson (1923–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Shared on her Facebook page, July 4, 2011
“A lot of political people, especially people on the left, have forgotten the importance of humor as an incredible weapon, and a vehicle through which to affect change.”
Michael Moore (born 1954) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Corporation (2004)
“If I had to pick a religion, I'd pick Buddhism. Buddhism is a kindly religion. It says you got a chance... it's got humor, it's got wisdom, it says to be nice to each other. All the rest of them have gods that want to beat the crap out of you if you defy the rules.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think the metric by which television is considered liberal is literally based on the metric of liberalism in each person's soul. Peoples' senses of humor tend to go about as far as their ideology.”
Jon Stewart (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cats have no sense of humor, they have terribly inflated egos, and they are very touchy.”
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“According as the man is, so must you humor him.”
Terence (185–159 BC) said by 159 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“USA Today doesn't like my "tone," humor, sarcasm, etc. etc., which raises the intriguing question of why they hired me to write for them in the first place. Perhaps they thought they were getting Catherine Coulter.”
Ann Coulter (born 1961) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Banned In Boston: Too Hot for USA Today" in Human Events (July 26, 2004).
“Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.”
James Thurber (1894–1961) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in New York Post (29 February 1960)
“If you think about it, being digital is Italian. It's underground, provocative, interactive. It has humor, discourse, and debate. It has a kind of liveliness to it.”
Nicholas Negroponte (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source