“The suffering of this or that person grips me because there is an escape for him. That's great art — nothing is self-evident. I am made to laugh about those who cry, and cry about those who laugh.”

“It's time that we began to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.”

“A lot of the things you cry about in the present are the things you will laugh about in the future.”

“Theatre audiences can't be made to think and cry: at best, they can be made to think and laugh, or to feel and cry.”

“I laugh because I must not cry, that is all, that is all.”

“Those who have everything but thee, my God, laugh at those who have nothing but thyself.”

“There are a lot of questions I keep asking myself about why I do comedy. I guess I laugh to keep from crying. And I guess if you ever get me crying, I might not stop. This is the way I look at tragedy or else I'll cry.”

“The men who cannot laugh at themselves frighten me even more than those who laugh at everything.”

“The mirror is my best friend because when I cry it never laughs.”

“Those who rule the world get so little opportunity to run about and laugh and play in it.”