Humor

Explore 13 quotes about Humor

A jest's prosperity lies in the ear
Of him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it.

William Shakespeare

Love's Labour's Lost

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Topic

Jokes Humor

Speaker

Rosaline

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Love's Labour's Lost

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1597 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Love's Labour's Lost. 1597, England, UK, act 5, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Love's Labour's Lost." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 5, sc. 2.

The secret source of Humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.

Mark Twain

Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World

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Topic

Heaven Humor and sadness Humor

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World

Genre

Travel writing

Language

English

Time

1897 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World. Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1897, ch. 10.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. "Following the Equator." Mark Twain: A Tramp Abroad, Following the Equator, Other Travels, edited by Roy Blount Jr. Library of America, 2010, ch. 10.

The world has always laughed at its own tragedies, that being the only way in which it has been able to bear them.

Oscar Wilde

A Woman of No Importance

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Topic

Humor and sadness Laughter Humor The human condition

Speaker

Lord Illingworth

Author

Oscar Wilde

Source

A Woman of No Importance

Medium

Play

Language

English

Time

1893 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Wilde, Oscar. A Woman of No Importance. 1893, Haymarket Theatre, London, England, UK, act 3.

Current Citation

Wilde, Oscar. "A Woman of No Importance." The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays. Oxford University Press, 2008, act 3.

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food.

William Hazlitt

Read the lecture "On Wit and Humour" at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Humor Good conversation Conversation

Author

William Hazlitt

Source

On Wit and Humour

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1819 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hazlitt, William. "On Wit and Humour." Lectures on the English Comic Writers. c. 1818, Surrey Institution, London, England, UK.

Wit is the only wall
Between us and the dark.

Mark Van Doren

More information about this quote

Topic

Wit Power of humor Humor

Author

Mark Van Doren

Source

Wit

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Doren, Mark Van. "Wit." Collected Poems 1922–1938. Henry Holt & Company, 1939, st. 1.

Humor very often cuts the knot of serious questions more trenchantly and successfully than severity.

Horace

Satires

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Topic

Power of humor Humor

Author

Horace

Source

Satires

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

34 BC 30s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Romulus. Quoted in Saturae [Satires], written by Horace. c. 35 BC, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Romulus. Quoted in Satires and Epistles, written by Horace, translated by John Davie. Oxford University Press, 2011, bk. 1.

I believe that humor is a part of beauty.

Max Beckmann

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of beauty Beauty Humor

Author

Max Beckmann

Source

Journals of Max Beckmann

Medium

Personal journal

Language

German

Time

1903 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Beckmann, Max. "August 23, 1903." Max Beckmann: Self-Portrait in Words: Collected Writings and Statements, 1903-1950, edited by Barbara Copeland Buenger, University of Chicago Press, 1997, p. 27.

Tragedy plus time equals comedy.

Steve Allen

More information about this quote

Topic

Comedy Humor

Author

Steve Allen

Source

Cosmopolitan

Medium

Magazine

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Allen, Steve. "Steve Allen's Almanac." Cosmopolitan Magazine, Feb. 1957.

Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer.

Reinhold Niebuhr

More information about this quote

Topic

Humor Laughter

Author

Reinhold Niebuhr

Source

Discerning the Signs of the Times

Language

English

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Niebuhr, Reinhold. "Humour and Faith." Discerning the Signs of the Times: Sermons for Today and Tomorrow. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1946.

Comedy naturally wears itself out-destroys the very food on which it lives; and by constantly and successfully exposing the follies and weaknesses of mankind to ridicule, in the end leaves itself nothing worth laughing at.

William Hazlitt

More information about this quote

Topic

Humor Cynicism

Author

William Hazlitt

Source

On Modern Comedy

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hazlitt, William. The Round Table: A Collection of Essays on Literature, Men, and Manners. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, 1817, no. 7.

Why should truth not be impress'd
Beneath the cover of a jest.

Horace

Satires

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More information about this quote

Topic

Jokes Humor

Author

Horace

Source

Satires

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

34 BC 30s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Romulus. Quoted in Saturae [Satires], written by Horace. c. 35 BC, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Romulus. Quoted in Satires and Epistles, written by Horace, translated by John Davie. Oxford University Press, 2011, bk. 1.

Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.

Mark Twain

The Mysterious Stranger

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of humor Laughter Humor

Author

Mark Twain

Source

The Mysterious Stranger

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1910 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. The Mysterious Stranger. Harper & Brothers, 1916, ch. 10.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. "The Mysterious Stranger." Mark Twain: The Gilded Age and Later Novels, edited by Hamlin Hill. Library of America, 2002, ch. 10.

Strange, when you come to think of it, that of all the countless folk who have lived before our time on this planet not one is known in history or in legend as having died of laughter.

Max Beerbohm

More information about this quote

Topic

Laughter Humor

Author

Max Beerbohm

Source

Laughter

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Beerbohm, Max. "Laughter." And Even Now. William Heinemann, 1920.