| The essence of all jokes, of all comedy, seems to be an honest or well intended halfness; a non performance of that which is pretended to be performed, at the same time that one is giving loud pledges of performance. The balking of the intellect, is comedy and it announces itself in the pleasant spasms we call laughter.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
There is no greater sorrow
Than to be mindful of the happy time
In misery.
--Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), The Divine Comedy
HUMOR
The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
-Horace Walpole (1717 - 1797)
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.
-Mel Brooks (1926 - )
Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.
-Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004)
The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those of libel.
-James Thurber (1894 - 1961)
Comedy is nothing more than tragedy deferred.
-Pico Iyer, Time
There are so many different ways lives work out, so many stories, and every one of them is precious: full of joy and heartbreak, and a fair amount of situation comedy.
-Sean Stewart, Perfect Circle, 2004
LAUGTHER
A sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to our steps as we walk the tightrope of life.
Always laugh when you can; it is cheap medicine.
--LORD GEORGE NOEL GORDON BYRON (1788–1824)
Humor is the sunshine of the mind.
--EDWARD GEORGE BULWER-LYTTON (1803–1873)
Humor makes all things tolerable.
--HENRY WARD BEECHER (1813–1887)
If you don’t learn to laugh at trouble, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you’re old.
--ED HOWE (1853–1937)
Laugh out loud. That helps flush out the nervous system.
--CHARLES R. SWINDOLL (1934– )
Laughing 100 times a day works the heart as much as exercising for ten minutes on a rowing machine.
Laughing is the sensation of feeling good all over and showing it principally in one spot.
--JOSH BILLINGS (1818–1885) |
