“Laughter is good for you. Nine out of ten stand-up comedians recommend laughter in the face of intense stupidity.”

The Mysterious Stranger (1916)

&quot;The Chronicle of Young Satan&quot; (ca. 1897–1900, unfinished), published posthumously in Mark Twain&#x27;s Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (1969), ed. William Merriam Gibson ( pp. 165–166 http://books.google.com/books?id=LDvA2xcYZKcC&amp;pg=PA165 in the 2005 paperback printing, ). <br class="br">Source: The Mysterious Stranger and Other Curious Tales <br class="br">Context: Your race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter. Power, Money, Persuasion, Supplication, Persecution—these can lift at a colossal humbug,—push it a little—crowd it a little—weaken it a little, century by century: but only Laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of Laughter nothing can stand.

Young Adventure (1918), The Quality of Courage
Context: It is not given me to trace
The lovely laughter of that face,
Like a clear brook most full of light,
Or olives swaying on a height,
So silver they have wings, almost;
Like a great word once known and lost
And meaning all things. Nor her voice
A happy sound where larks rejoice,
Her body, that great loveliness,
The tender fashion of her dress,
I may not paint them.
These I see,
Blazing through all eternity,
A fire-winged sign, a glorious tree!

Variant: A smile is the same as sunshine; it banishes winter from the human countenance.
Source: Les Misérables

Source: Children of Light and the Children of Darkness

"Ra Is A Busy God"
Many Worlds Are Born Tonight (1998)
Context: Even the leaves laugh
'cause they have what I have
Reach from the best tree
So he can see me
And with your face
With your face comes laughter
And with your touch
And with your touch comes joy.