Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Laughter
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“For the sake of all beings I have made this body pleasureless. Let them continually beat it, revile it, and cover it with filth. Let them play with my body. Let them laugh at it and ridicule it. What does it matter to me? I have given my body to them.”
Shantideva (685–763) said by 763 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first item was fighting under the name ‘Crostini of Mealed Tarroce, with Benatore Potatoes’ and weighed in at an impressive twelve pounds sixty-five. The Ralph Lauren blonde came over and asked me if I needed any help with the menu, and I asked her to explain what potatoes were. She didn’t laugh.”
Hugh Laurie (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I guess God has the last laugh. From up on high he lets us kill. And his people die for their faith. And we call it triumph of the will.”
Ed Harcourt (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life is supposed to be fun. It's not a job or occupation. We're here only once and we should have a bit of a laugh.”
Billy Connolly (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Jack: When they laugh at one of my jokes... it just gets me right here. [Puts hand on heart]”
Jack Benny (1894–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everyone feels embarrassed, but when you laugh it off, it's fine.”
Corbin Bleu (born 1989) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How do we teach a child — our own, or those in a classroom — to have compassion: to allow people to be different; to understand that like is not equal; to experiment; to laugh; to love; to accept the fact that the most important questions a human being can ask do not have — or need — answers.”
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think I have more of a fear of success. I want to have a good time, I want to hang out with my friends and laugh about shit, I want to make music where I can just say 'Hey, check this out, this is crazy, have a listen…and anyway, what did you do today?'”
Devin Townsend (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anyway, it was all terribly well organised. Done with military precision.” He barked a laugh. “Better than that, actually; didn’t miss and hit their own people.”
Iain Banks (1954–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In an infinite universe; eternal time, why just do what people tell you? 'ave a laugh; do what you want.”
Russell Brand (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I is here standing outside the United Nations of Benetton. Which is where representatives from the three corners of the world come to end wars, international drug trafficking, and everything else that is a bit of a laugh.”
Sacha Baron Cohen (born 1971) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "War" (28 February 2003), Da Ali G Show.
“I often think my life has been a failure. But whenever I drop into a theater and hear women laugh at one of my films, I think, well, if I brightened their day before they went home and did the dishes, maybe my life wasn't wasted, after all.”
Cary Grant (1904–1986) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "They Changed Their Careers and Became Famous; Cary a Failure?" by Jack Harrison Pollack, Parade (November 16, 1969), p. 7; and The Filmgoer's Book of Quotes (1978) by , p.229
“It's really fun and just to be with a friend while you're working really hard. It can sometimes be really stressful. Also it's just fun to have someone to laugh with and have a good time with.”
Rachel Trachtenburg (born 1993) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes, Nothing remains quite the same. Through all of the islands and all of the highlands, If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.”
Jimmy Buffett (1946–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oooh noo, please, it's wicked to mock the afflicted! Well it might be one of your own! Don't laugh at her, she might want paying - I told her this was an audition! She's known to me as Madam Vera Roper, but she's known to everyone else as The English Open!”
Frankie Howerd (1917–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But she didn't laugh. "When you have children," she said, staring at her glass, "you accept life. Do you accept life?”
Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thou shalt not laugh, thou shalt not romp, Let's grimly kiss with bated breath; As quietly and solemnly As Life when it is kissing Death.”
William Henry Davies (1871–1940) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Fleeting Passion", in The Bird of Paradise and Other Poems (1914)
“Today was very sad, and even if tomorrow, I cry, someday I will be able to laugh and remember our time together. How many seasons must pass, in this, our finite existence? If we live in the "now", what will we find?”
Ayumi Hamasaki (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Your back always looked small and weak but we could laugh together at funny stories. But if people keep making the same mistakes over and over can they really regret them?”
Ayumi Hamasaki (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every parent who loses a child finds a way to laugh again. The timbre begins to fade. The edge dulls. The hurt lessens. Every love is carved from loss. Mine was. Yours is. Your great-great-great-children's will be. But we learn to live with that love.”
Jonathan Safran Foer (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It makes me laugh. The part I don't understand, the dude is trying to act like I went to his house and took it from his computer. I don't know him from a can of paint. I'm 15 years deep. That's how you attack a king? You attack moi? Come on, man. You got to come correct. You the laughing stock. People are like, "You can't be serious.”
Timbaland (born 1972) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Elliot in the Morning, about plagiarism controversy , 2007-02-02
“He who would dig right down to the truth must simplify; his faith must be brutally simple, or he is lost. Laugh at the subtle shades and distinctions of the rhetoricians and the specialist physicians. Say aloud: "This is what is," and then, "That is what must be.”
Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I sit here in the upper circle surrounded by copper and gold, and smile with joy under my fly net as all the light, glory and quivering brightness passes slowly and freely before my eyes. Nothing happier than this. I shout and laugh at my immense wealth, all free and without responsibility. Who could steal this from me? No one. Oh that I could roll some up— as at present.”
Arthur Streeton (1867–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Mollie Hetherington, Famous Australians (1983), p. 252.
“It makes me laugh when the yanquis talk about a police state in other governments. There's no police state like the yanqui system.”
Pedro Albizu Campos (1891–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our General Had to restore "Law-and-Order" At Amritsar; For he knew That if he failed To shoot Two thousand natives They would have laughed at him. To laugh at a General, Is, of course, very rude.”
Osbert Sitwell (1892–1969) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Shaking Hands With Murder", in Douglas, Noel, (ed.) Poems of Revolt: A Twentieth Century Anthology (1924).
“Be a clown, be a clown, All the world loves a clown. Act the fool, play the calf, And you'll always have the last laugh.”
Cole Porter (1891–1964) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Be A Clown" (written in 1946)
“They didn't think much to the Ocean, The waves, they was fiddlin' and small, There was no wrecks and nobody drownded, Fact, nothing to laugh at at all.”
Marriott Edgar (1880–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am forced, as I have often said, to try to make myself laugh, that I may not cry: for one or other I must do.”
Samuel Richardson (1687–1761) said by 1761 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This paper will serve instead of a confidential friend into whose ear I might pour forth the overflowings of my heart. It will not sympathise with my distresses, but then it will not laugh at them, and, if I keep it close, it cannot tell again; so it is, perhaps, the best friend I could have for the purpose.”
Anne Brontë (1820–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If your wife gives you her heart, you must take it, thankfully, and use it well, and not pull it in pieces, and laugh in her face, because she cannot snatch it away.”
Anne Brontë (1820–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The going's rough, and so we need the laugh of bright incisors, molars of goodwill. Our times are still not safe and sane enough for faces to show ordinary sorrow.”
Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thou art the whisper in the gloom, The hinting tone, the haunting laugh: Thou art the adorner of my tomb, The minstrel of mine epitaph.”
Lionel Johnson (1867–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Always laugh second.”
Craig Ferguson (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can tell By the laugh in the dark at the sound of the bell You can tell It's the nucleus burning inside of the cell…”
Aimee Mann (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only men laugh, only men dance, only men weep" - Saying on Darkover, quoted by Lew Alton”
Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything I've done in the last few years has been grim and gritty and traumatic. I've played floozies, psychopaths, assassins, crackheads.... It's nice to do something with a lighter touch, something that makes you laugh but has a serious point to make. I get to wear a lot of great clothes as well.”
Sienna Guillory (born 1975) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Take a Girl Like You Cast and Credits. pbs.org. 2000.
“Ye that follow the vision Of the world's weal afar, Have ye met with derision And the red laugh of war; Yet the thunder shall not hurt you, Nor the battle-storms dismay; Tho' the sun in heaven desert you, "Love will find out the way.”
Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Be a sincere effort never so misguided, to laugh at it is a breach of faith with decency.”
Henry S. Haskins (1875–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now figure it out, Dr. O'Neal, I kill off the big men (evil laugh)”
Shaquille O'Neal (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hitchcock was a character. In one particularly scary scene I had to sneak down a dark corridor. When I got to the end there was Mr. Hitchcock, sticking out his tongue and flapping his hands in the back of his ears. I didn't dare laugh, because the cameras were turning. But he certainly eliminated any tension I felt.”
Laraine Day (1920–2007) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Independent, Obituaries, Laraine Day, November 13, 2007.
“Never let anger, or outrage, or fear affect you. That is easy advice to give, but hard to follow. Men will bait you, they will laugh at you, they will jeer. But it is just noise, Kiall. They will hurt the people you love. They will do anything to make you angry or emotional. But the only way you can make them suffer is to win. And to do that you must remain cool.”
David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, even the leaves laugh As you spin and tumble through We explode in color All for your honor”
Happy Rhodes (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods smile on us, my son, or so it is written. It's a wonder they don't laugh aloud.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'd never malign another performer, but the style is not good enough. They've done away with laugh pay-offs. We were given nine minutes or eight minutes. Now they wander wherever they like, they don't get to any jokes before they've been on for two minutes. We had to make an impact in ten seconds.”
Max Bygraves (1922–2012) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Deprecating modern comedians, Metro (27 October 2009).{[broken link|date=September 2026}]
“I'm mortified to have to pay 50%! [While] I use the NHS, I can't use public transport any more. Trains are always late, most state schools are shit, and I've gotta give you, like, four million quid – are you having a laugh? When I got my tax bill in from [the album] 19, I was ready to go and buy a gun and randomly open fire.”
Adele (singer) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On high taxes, as quoted by The Guardian, 'Adele's tax grievances won't resonate with fans', 25 May 2011.
“We'd seen all the rushes, which we thought very funny, but the premiere audience reaction was cold and so were the reviews. However, the moment it was released it made audiences everywhere laugh like anything, and it showed that our original reaction had been right. What a relief!”
Fenella Fielding (1927–2018) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Of her appearance in the film Carry on Screaming on "All Things Horror" (c. June 2008)
“I’ve gotten kicked in the face, got my nose broken, I’m constantly chipping teeth and there’s been a lot of very close calls with Hunter [the band’s bassist]. In a recent show, if our movement had’ve been inches different, I might be dead. I almost caught his bass to my head at full velocity. You laugh but it’s really scary.”
Davey Havok (born 1975) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Southern Courier, February 2010
“Youth is a chance to be the stupid version of yourself that you can laugh at when you're older and wiser”
Siddharth Katragadda (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We showed the world you could enjoy being a footballer; you could laugh and have a fantastic time. I represent the era which proved that attractive football was enjoyable and successful, and good fun to play too.”
Johan Cruyff (1947–2016) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In They said It: Johan Cruyff (FIFA.com, 25 April 2014).
“If you can't make it better, you can laugh at it.”
Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in TIME (1984), also in Meditations for Parents Who Do Too Much (1993) by Jonathon Lazear and Wendy Lazear, p. 22