Laughter (1920)
And Even Now http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext99/evnow10.txt (1920)
“Without laughter life on our planet would be intolerable. So important is laughter to us that humanity highly rewards members of one of the most unusual professions on earth, those who make a living by inducing laughter in others. This is very strange if you stop to think of it: that otherwise sane and responsible citizens should devote their professional energies to causing others to make sharp, explosive barking-like exhalations.”
Funny People (1981)
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Steve Allen 16
American comedian, actor, musician and writer 1921–2000Related quotes
1989 interview. Reported in William H. Honan, The New York Times (December 4, 1999) "Madeline Kahn: Funny Actress in 'Blazing Saddles'", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p. A-11
Attributed
"Inferior Religions" (1917), cited from Lawrence Rainey (ed.) Modernism: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005) pp. 208-9.
“Laughter is America's most important export.”
The Quotable Walt Disney (2001)
“Without the laughter, there would be no Tao.”
Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 41
Context: Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao, take it and practice it earnestly.
Scholars of the middle class, when they hear of it, take it half earnestly.
Scholars of the lowest class, when they hear of it, laugh at it.
Without the laughter, there would be no Tao.
“Laughter rises out of tragedy when you need it the most, and rewards you for your courage.”
The Other World (1657)