Quotes & anectdotes from the wise, the foolish, the courageous & the drunk

humor

Humor is the affectionate communication of insight. 6 wisdom & wit from Leo Rosten

Humor distorts nothing, and only false gods are laughed off their earthly pedestals. 5 sayings from Agnes Repplier

Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding. 5 thoughts from Agnes Repplier

In conversation, humor is worth more than wit and easiness more than knowledge. 12 wisdom & wit from George Herbert

All I know about humor is that I don't know anything about it. 13 other quotes from Fred Allen

Any man who has had the job I've had and didn't have a sense of humor wouldn't still be here. 26 quotes from Harry S. Truman

Wit is the lowest form of humor. 43 quotes from Alexander Pope

When you say a friend has a sense of humor do you mean that he makes you laugh, or that he can make you laugh? 7 other quotes from Max Frisch

Putting a little time aside for clean fun and good humor is very necessary to relieve the tensions of our time. 5 more wisdom & wit from Hattie McDaniel

Humor is merely tragedy standing on its head with its pants torn. 3 quotes from Irvin S. Cobb

I think I have always had a little humor. 53 quotes from Marilyn Monroe

Nothing in man is more serious than his sense of humor it is the sign that he wants all the truth. 2 quotes from Mark Van Doren

A sense of humor is a major defense against minor troubles. 21 quotes from Mignon McLaughlin

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road. 58 other views from Henry Ward Beecher

Whatever else an American believes or disbelieves about himself, he is absolutely sure he has a sense of humor. 19 views from E. B. White

Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it. 19 other sayings from E. B. White

Good humor is one of the best articles of dress one can wear in society. 8 sayings from William Makepeace Thackeray

Probably it is impossible for humor to be ever a revolutionary weapon. Candide can do little more than generate irony. 6 more quotes from Lionel Trilling

A humorist is a person who feels bad, but who feels good about it. 3 quotes from Don Herold

Married people should not be quick to hear what is said by either when in ill humor. 22 wisdom & wit from Samuel Richardson

The love of truth lies at the root of much humor. 3 other quotes from Robertson Davies

From sixteen to twenty, all women, kept in humor by their hopes and by their attractions, appear to be good-natured. 22 quotes from Samuel Richardson

If this humor be the safety of our race, then it is due largely to the infusion into the American people of the Irish brain. 4 sayings from William Howard Taft

The sense of humor has other things to do than to make itself conspicuous in the act of laughter. 3 views from Alice Meynell

There seems to be no lengths to which humorless people will not go to analyze humor. It seems to worry them. 10 views from Robert Benchley

Stand-up comics reflect less of a visual humor and more of a commentary. 2 other wisdom & wit from Shel Silverstein

Comedy, we may say, is society protecting itself - with a smile. 9 views from J. B. Priestley

Cynicism is humor in ill health. 19 wisdom & wit from H. G. Wells

Men live by intervals of reason under the sovereignty of humor and passion. 8 other views from Thomas Browne

The first glass is for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humor, and the forth for my enemies. 6 thoughts from William Temple

Humor is reason gone mad. 29 quotes from Groucho Marx

Alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse. 29 wisdom & wit from Groucho Marx

People of humor are always in some degree people of genius. 24 quotes from Samuel Taylor Coleridge

No mind is thoroughly well organized that is deficient in a sense of humor. 24 wisdom & wit from Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth wit. 6 thoughts from William Temple

If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide. 100 more quotes from Mahatma Gandhi

This I conceive to be the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought. 4 wisdom & wit from Lin Yutang

Next to power without honor, the most dangerous thing in the world is power without humor. 2 sayings from Eric Sevareid

Men are happy to be laughed at for their humor, but not for their folly. 19 wisdom & wit from Jonathan Swift

Everything human is pathetic. The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven. 98 more views from Mark Twain

The secret source of humor is not joy but sorrow there is no humor in Heaven. 98 quotes from Mark Twain

We do not take humor seriously enough. 2 quotes from Konrad Lorenz

Humor must not professedly teach and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would live forever. 98 quotes from Mark Twain

A joke is a very serious thing. 74 wisdom & wit from Winston Churchill

Humor is mankind's greatest blessing. 98 sayings from Mark Twain

My stories are very somber, so I think I need the comic ingredient. Besides, life has so much humor. 11 other quotes from Manuel Puig

Get well cards have become so humorous that if you don't get sick you're missing half the fun. 7 more sayings from Flip Wilson

I don't think humor is forced upon my universe it's a part of it. 11 quotes from Manuel Puig

Humor has justly been regarded as the finest perfection of poetic genius. 58 wisdom & wit from Thomas Carlyle

Humor is a serious thing. I like to think of it as one of our greatest earliest natural resources, which must be preserved at all cost. 14 thoughts from James Thurber

Things can be funny only when we are in fun. When we're 'dead earnest,' humor is the only thing that is dead. 7 other quotes from Flip Wilson

Humor is a social lubricant that helps us get over some of the bad spots. 2 views from Steve Allen

Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility. 14 thoughts from James Thurber

The overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities a sense of humor and a sense of proportion. 24 more wisdom & wit from Franklin D. Roosevelt

Total absence of humor renders life impossible. 9 quotes from Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

The secret to humor is surprise. 75 quotes from Aristotle

You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches tolerance. 29 more quotes from W. Somerset Maugham

Robert Walker as Bruno was excellent. He had elegance and humor, and the proper fondness for his mother. 5 other quotes from Patricia Highsmith

A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life. 14 more quotes from William Arthur Ward

Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. 40 quotes from William James

Good humor isn't a trait of character, it is an art which requires practice. 2 quotes from David Seabury

Humor is the first of the gifts to perish in a foreign tongue. 30 more quotes from Virginia Woolf

Humor is the instinct for taking pain playfully. 7 more quotes from Max Eastman

Start every day off with a smile and get it over with. 24 quotes from W. C. Fields

Men will confess to treason, murder, arson, false teeth, or a wig. How many of them will own up to a lack of humor? 3 sayings from Frank Moore Colby

It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor. 7 quotes from Max Eastman

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not a sense of humor to console him for what he is. 67 other quotes from Francis Bacon

Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it. 7 wisdom & wit from Langston Hughes

Women, as they grow older, rely more and more on cosmetics. Men, as they grow older, rely more and more on a sense of humor. 12 other quotes from George Jean Nathan

When humor goes, there goes civilization. 33 thoughts from Erma Bombeck

Gags die, humor doesn't. 4 other quotes from Jack Benny

Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you. 7 quotes from Langston Hughes

Humor has been the balm of my life, but it's been reserved for those close to me, not part of the public Lana. 6 other thoughts from Lana Turner

The satirist shoots to kill while the humorist brings his prey back alive and eventually releases him again for another chance. 10 more views from Peter De Vries

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt. 33 thoughts from Erma Bombeck

There are two insults no human being will endure: that he has no sense of humor, and that he has never known trouble. 6 other quotes from Sinclair Lewis

The total absence of humor from the Bible is one of the most singular things in all literature. 19 other views from Alfred North Whitehead

Bad humor is an evasion of reality good humor is an acceptance of it. 8 sayings from Malcolm Muggeridge

Humor is the most engaging cowardice. 50 other quotes from Robert Frost

I don't have a very quick sense of humor. 2 views from Florenz Ziegfeld