Quotes about humor
113 quotes from 83 people
Will Rogers1879–1935Daily Telegram #1538 (28 June 1931)The man who laughs has simply not yet had the terrible news.
Bertolt Brecht1898–1956“To Those Born Later”, part of the Svendborg Poems (1939)From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things are everywhere.
Dr. Seuss1904–1991One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish (1960)Sudden Glory, is the passion which maketh those Grimaces called LAUGHTER.
I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality.
Joseph Addison1672–1719The Spectator (1711–1714), No. 10 (11 March 1711)Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.
Jean Cocteau1889–1963Diary of an Unknown (1988)Good humour may be said to be one of the very best articles of dress one can wear in society.
William Makepeace Thackeray1811–1863“Mr. Brown’s Letters to his Nephew: On Tailoring — And Toilettes in General”, p. 12.
Milan Kundera1929–2023The Joke (1967), Pt. 6, ch. 18
E. B. White1899–1985“Some Remarks on Humor,” preface to A Subtreasury of American Humor (1941)
Mark Twain1835–1910How To Tell A Story (1895)
Stephen Colbertborn 1964Parade interview (23 September 2007)Some things are of that nature as to make
One’s fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache.
John Bunyan1628–1688The Pilgrim’s Progress, Part II (1684), verse preface “The Author’s Way of Sending Forth His Second Part of the Pilgrim”The most completely wasted of all days is that in which we have not laughed.
Nicolas Chamfort1740–1794Maximes et pensées (1805)
Thomas Carlyle1795–1881“Schiller”, first published in Fraser’s Magazine (1831).
