Archive

Quotes

A joke is at most a temporary rebellion against virtue, and its aim is not to degrade the human being but to remind him that he is already degraded.

—George Orwell, 1945

Wit enables us to act rudely with impunity.

—La Rochefoucauld, 1678

Jokes are grievances.

—Marshall McLuhan, 1969

No man ever distinguished himself who could not bear to be laughed at.

—Maria Edgeworth, 1809

A jest breaks no bones.

—Samuel Johnson, 1781

There is nothing sillier than a silly laugh.

—Catullus, c. 60 BC

I used to think that everyone was just being funny. But now I don’t know. I mean, how can you tell?

—Andy Warhol, 1970

Comedy, like sodomy, is an unnatural act.

—Marty Feldman, 1969

I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”

—Book of Ecclesiastes, 225 BC

Jesters do oft prove prophets.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1605

It is easy to distinguish between the joking that reflects good breeding and that which is coarse—the one, if aired at an apposite moment of mental relaxation, is becoming in the most serious of men, whereas the other is unworthy of any free person, if the content is indecent or the expression obscene.

—Cicero, c. 44 BC

Big head, little wit.

—French proverb

Jests and scoffs do lessen majesty and greatness and should be far from great personages and men of wisdom.

—Henry Peacham, 1622