Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. on humor

I don’t generally feel anything until noon, then it’s time for my nap.

Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend.

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.

Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.

George Bernard Shaw1856–1950The Doctor’s Dilemma (1911), Act V

• Life & Death

Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.

Mark Twain1835–1910“What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us?” (1897)

You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.

Bill Cosbyborn 1937