“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

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Christopher Hitchens 305

British American author and journalist 1949–2011

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

The Big Picture: An American Commentary (1991)

“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)

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

Langston Hughes (1902–1967) American writer and social activist

"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)

“Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

Variant translation: Tact in audacity consists in knowing how far we may go too far.
Le Coq et l’Arlequin (1918)

“If you don't leave home you suffocate, if you go too far you lose oxygen.”

Vivian Gornick (1935) US author

The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative

“You too are going to die, and that’s because you too were fortunate enough to have lived.”

Mark Manson (1984) American writer and blogger

Source: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (2016), Chapter 9, “...And Then You Die” (p. 208)

“You have to dream, you have to have a vision, and you have to set a goal for yourself that might even scare you a little because sometimes that seems far beyond your reach.”

Gregory Peck (1916–2003) American actor

As quoted in The ArtSlut's Guide to Makin' It — As a Visual Artist‎ (2007) by Barb Benson
Context: You have to dream, you have to have a vision, and you have to set a goal for yourself that might even scare you a little because sometimes that seems far beyond your reach. Then I think you have to develop a kind of resistance to rejection, and to the disappointments that are sure to come your way.

“Everything is funnier in retrospect, funnier and prettier and cooler. You can laugh at anything from far enough away.”

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist

Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories (2004)
Source: Stranger than Fiction

“You have to be! (Laughs) You might get shot!”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Responding to a reporter question during The Beatles Australian tour of if they were aware of everything going on around them. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=5x5UUQM2Qy4

“A poem should go beyond what you already know, and if it’s going to go beyond what you already know, a poem might say something that begins to have you question what side you’re on, which, in turn, might begin to have an audience question what side you’re on…”

Jericho Brown (1976) American writer

On how social and political crises are seeping into American poetry in “JERICHO BROWN in conversation with MICHAEL DUMANIS” http://www.benningtonreview.org/jericho-brown-interview in Bennington Review (2018 Oct 27)

“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.”

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Christopher Hitchens 305

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