As quoted in a letter to The Times https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times (2018)
Enda Kenny (1951) Irish Fine Gael politician and Taoiseach
Apology for the above joke, as quoted in "Fury at Kenny 'joke' spreads" http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/sep/15/world.race (14 September 2002), The Observer <br class="br">2000s
“It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it.”
G. K. Chesterton book All Things Considered
"Spiritualism"
All Things Considered (1908)
“Some subjects are so serious that one can only joke about them.”
Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) German theoretical physicist
Sometimes attributed to Heisenberg, this was actually a statement made by Niels Bohr, as quoted in The Genius of Science: A Portrait Gallery (2000) by Abraham Pais, p. 24
Some things are so serious that one can only joke about them.
Variant without any citation as to author in Denial is not a river in Egypt (1998) by Sandi Bachom, p. 85
Misattributed
“Some subjects are so serious that one can only joke about them.”
Niels Bohr (1885–1962) Danish physicist
As quoted in The Genius of Science: A Portrait Gallery (2000) by Abraham Pais, p. 24
Some things are so serious that one can only joke about them.
Variant without any citation as to author in Denial is not a river in Egypt (1998) by Sandi Bachom, p. 85.
Lois McMaster Bujold (1949) Science Fiction and fantasy author from the USA
Source: World of the Five Gods series, The Curse of Chalion (2000), p. 313
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) American author, poet, editor and literary critic
Marginalia http://www.easylit.com/poe/comtext/prose/margin.shtml (November 1844)
Alan Watts (1915–1973) British philosopher, writer and speaker
Source: In My Own Way: An Autobiography 1915-1965 (1972), p. 6
Context: Do you suppose that God takes himself seriously? I know a Zen master, Joshu Sasaki, who has let it be known that the best form of meditation is to stand up with your hands on your hips and roar with laughter for ten minutes every morning. I have heard of a sophisticated shaman-type fellow who used to cure ringworm on cows just by pointing at the scars and laughing. Truly religious people always make jokes about their religion; their faith is so strong that they can afford it. Much of the secret of life consists in knowing how to laugh, and also how to breathe.
Mitch Hedberg (1968–2005) American stand-up comedian
Do You Believe in Gosh?
Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist
All About Soul.
Song lyrics, River of Dreams (1993)
