“To be able to laugh and to be merciful are the only things that make man better than the beast”

—  Ruskin Bond

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "To be able to laugh and to be merciful are the only things that make man better than the beast" by Ruskin Bond?
Ruskin Bond photo
Ruskin Bond 15
British Indian writer 1934

Related quotes

Harold Macmillan photo

“It's a good thing to be laughed at. It's better than to be ignored.”

Harold Macmillan (1894–1986) British politician

In a handwritten note to the Postmaster General, who wanted to take action against "That Was The Week That Was", a satirical program.
Taken from letters-of-note.com http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/06/it-is-good-thing-to-be-laughed-at.html
1980s

Desiderius Erasmus photo

“Animals only follow their natural instincts; but man, unless he has experienced the influence of learning and philosophy, is at the mercy of impulses that are worse than those of a wild beast. There is no beast more savage and dangerous than a human being who is swept along by the passions of ambition, greed, anger, envy, extravagance, and sensuality.”

Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and theologian

De pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis declamatio (1529), translated by Beert C. Verstraete as On Education for Children, in The Erasmus Reader (University of Toronto Press: 1990), p. 73

Stephen King photo
Robert A. Heinlein photo
Robert A. Heinlein photo

“I know why we laugh. We laugh because it hurts, and it's the only thing to make it stop hurting.”

Variant: I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much... because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting.
Source: Stranger in a Strange Land

Matthew Perry (actor) photo

“It's been more than a show. It's been a wonderful support group. It's a group of people that love each other, that come together every day to try to make America laugh. What better thing is there to do than that?”

Matthew Perry (actor) (1969) American actor

Gail Pennington (May 2, 2004) "Farewell, "Friends": Sitcom's Finale on Thursday Night May Draw Up to 85 Million Viewers", The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p. F1.

H.P. Lovecraft photo
Friedrich Nietzsche photo
Joseph Stalin photo

“music's a good thing, it calm the beast in the man.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Ron English photo

“It’s better to get the last laugh than the joke.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy: Volume 2 (2022)

Related topics