“Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it.”

— Langston Hughes

"A Note on Humor", from The Book of Negro Humor https://books.google.com/books?id=60FkAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22Humor+is+laughing+at+what+you+haven%27t+got+when+you+ought+to+have+it.%22, p. vii (1966)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it." by Langston Hughes?

Langston Hughes79

American writer and social activist 1902–1967

A. Whitney Brown (1952) American stand-up comedian

The Big Picture: An American Commentary (1991)

“If you're in love it ought to make you happy. You ought to laugh.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book Tender Is the Night

Source: Tender Is the Night

“A rule of thumb with humor; if you worry that you might be going too far, you have already not gone far enough. If everybody laughs, you have failed.”

Christopher Hitchens Letters to a Young Contrarian

Source: Letters to a Young Contrarian

“Humor keeps us alive. Humor and food. Don't forget food. You can go a week without laughing.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

“I am a peace man. I haven't got any use for wars and there is no more humor in 'em than there is reason for 'em.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

Daily Telegram (4 December 1931), as quoted in Will Rogers' Daily Telegrams (1979), p. 104; also in Will Rogers Speaks: Over 1,000 Timeless Quotations for Public Speakers (1995) edited by Bryan B. Sterling and ‎Frances N. Sterling, p. 304
Daily telegrams

“Probably it is only in free countries, however, that a humorous regard for corruption is possible. In the totalitarian countries, corrupt from top to bottom, nobody is laughing because nothing is laughable. There is no difference between what things are and what things ought to be, since what things ought to be no longer exists even as a standard.”

Clive James (1939–2019) Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist

'The Weld This Week'
Essays and reviews, The Crystal Bucket (1982)

“You need to laugh more. Life is filled with too many problems, to not laugh every day. … We need to have a sense of humor going into this because it's too tough without it.”

Ysabella Brave (1979) American singer

"Everyday Bravery" (25 March 2007)