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Humour is a great vehicle for getting a message across. If you get too serious, you could die of starch. -- Cyndi Lauper
Humour is the weapon of unarmed people: it helps people who are oppressed to smile at the situation that pains them. -- Simon Wiesenthal
Humour is like violence. They both come to you unexpectedly, and the more unpredictable they both are, the better it gets. -- Takeshi Kitano
Humour is the most engaging cowardice. With it myself I have been able to hold some of my enemy in play far out of gunshot. -- Robert Frost
Humour has always been a self-defence mechanism for me. -- Brooke Shields
Humour is...the all-consoling and...the all-excusing, grace of life. -- C. S. Lewis
Humour is the shortest road from one person to another. -- Georges Wolinski
Humour is the best way to make the unbearable bearable. -- Mary Ann Shaffer
Humour is human. Why? Well, because the Philosopher, Aristotle, says so. -- Simon Critchley
Humour is by far the most significant activity of the human brain. -- Edward de Bono
The only way to survive is to have a sense of humour. -- Bob Newhart
You should laugh everywhere you can find even the slightest glimmer of humour. -- Doug Stanhope
Nothing is more curious than the almost savage hostility that Humour excites in those who lack it. -- George Saintsbury
Humour plays close to the big, hot fire, which is the truth, and the reader feels the heat. -- E. B. White
Humour ended up being a really useful skill when it came time to be an international television celebrity. -- Carson Kressley
Humour is - how do I say this without sounding pompous - it's a huge part of my life. -- Martin Freeman
It is well known that Beauty does not look with a good grace on the timid advances of Humour. -- W. Somerset Maugham
You can't draw lines in the sand like that. Humour's a tsunami that doesn't care about your little lines. -- S.A. Tawks
Humour in its highest reach mingles with pathos: it voices sorrow for our human lot and reconciliation with it. -- Stephen Leacock
Humour breaks down boundaries, it topples our self-importance, it connects people, and because it engages and entertains, it ultimately enlightens. -- John Agard
Humour is essentially a comforter, reconciling us to things as they are in contrast to things as they might be. -- Stephen Leacock
That's what I always liked about science fiction - you can make the world end. Humour is my multiple warhead delivery system. -- Gary Shteyngart
Humour is not a postscript or an incidental afterthought - rather it is a serious and weighty part of the world's economy. -- Oscar W. Firkins
That which has not a real excellency and value in it self, entertains no longer than the giddy Humour which recommended it to us holds. -- Mary Astell
Humour is the best weapon to fight any battle. But there is a thin line between humour and humiliation and beware not to cross it. -- Girish Kohli
Humour is meant, in a literal sense, to make game of man; that is, to dethrone him from his official dignity and hunt him like game. -- Gilbert K. Chesterton
Humour is the making others act or talk absurdly and unconsciously; wit is the pointing out and ridiculing that absurdity consciously, and with more or less ill-nature. -- William Hazlitt
Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer "¦ Laughter is swallowed up in prayer and humour is fulfilled by faith. -- Reinhold Niebuhr
We were a very funny family. Humour was the tool with which my brother and I tried to get attention. We were always trying to be the funniest. -- Meg Cabot
Humour is a fine line to walk in poetry, as in fiction. I just think it's harder to write. It's harder to keep the respect of the reader too." -- George Murray
Humour and high seriousness... Perfect bedfellows, I think. Though I usually phrase it in terms of comedy and darkness. Comedy without darkness rapidly becomes trivial. And darkness without comedy rapidly becomes unbearable. -- Mark Haddon
Among all kinds of Writing, there is none in which Authors are more apt to miscarry than in Works of Humour, as there is none in which they are more ambitious to excel. -- Joseph Addison
Prudent people are very happy; 'tis an exceeding fine thing, that's certain, but I was born without it, and shall retain to my day of Death the Humour of saying what I think. -- Mary Wortley Montagu
You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humour teaches tolerance, and the humorist, with a smile and perhaps a sigh, is more likely to shrug his shoulders than to condemn. -- W. Somerset Maugham
Life is a campus: in a Greenwich Village bookstore, looking for a New Yorker collection, I asked of an earnest-looking assistant where I might find the humour section. Peering over her granny glasses, she enquired, "Humour studies would that be, sir? -- Keith Waterhouse
So I wrote what I hoped would be science fiction, I was not at all sure if what I wrote would be acceptable even. But I don't say that I consciously wrote with humour. Humour is a part of you that comes out. -- Robert Sheckley
Humour is the describing the ludicrous as it is in itself; wit is the exposing it, by comparing or contrasting it with something else. Humour is, as it were, the growth of nature and accident; wit is the product of art and fancy. -- William Hazlitt
Humour is but the faint terrestrial echo of the hideous laughter of the blind mad gods that squat leeringly and sardonically in caverns beyond the Milky Way. It is a hollow thing, sweet on the outside, but filled with the pathos of fruitless aspiration. -- H. P. Lovecraft
The ability to laugh at life is right at the top, with love and communication, in the hierarchy of our needs. Humour has much to do with pain; it exaggerates the anxieties and absurdities we feel, so that we gain distance and through laughter, relief. -- Sara Davidson
Humour very often consists of shrewd perceptions about people. It's usually fun at someone's expense. Nowadays if you're funny at anybody's expense they run to the UN and say, "I must have an ombudsman to protect me." You hardly dare have a shrewd perception about anybody. -- Robertson Davies
Humour is often linked to shared experience. Like, a guy gets up and says, "Have you noticed public restrooms have really inefficient hand-dryers?" Oh my God, yes I have, hahaha, really good point, they should... fix that. It's good to know that somebody finally gets me! -- Bo Burnham
Laughter is more serious than tears. -- Toni Morrison
You can't take yourself too seriously. -- LeRoy Neiman
All humor is rooted in pain. -- Richard Pryor
Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility. -- James Thurber
The comedy gods are smiling on me tonight... -- Bill Maher
Laughter is an independent, tremendously important, and lurid emotion. -- Wyndham Lewis
Wit is an intermittent fountain; kindness is a perennial spring. -- Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
I can't be funny if my feet don't feel right. -- Billy Crystal
Laughter allows us to get past the fear of death. -- Deepak Chopra
I'm always impressed by confidence, kindness and a sense of humour. -- Tamara Mellon
Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life. -- Brooke Shields
My father used to brag that I wasn't a ham, I was the whole pig. -- Jim Carrey
Is not the decisive difference between comedy and tragedy that tragedy denies us another chance? -- John Updike
It is hard for power to enjoy or incorporate humour and satire in its system of control. -- Dario Fo
A comedian can only last till he either takes himself serious or his audience takes him serious. -- Will Rogers
The whole [Scotch] nation hitherto has been void of wit and humour, and even incapable of relishing it. -- Horace Walpole
HELPED are those who laugh with a pure heart; theirs will be the company of the jolly righteous. -- Alice Walker
The cause of laughter is simply the sudden perception of the incongruity between a concept and the real project. -- Arthur Schopenhauer
People who know me know that there's a light-hearted side, humour... But you could easily say I am cheeky. -- Waris Ahluwalia
I don't want to sound facetious, but humour is the key to the soul. You know what I mean? -- Martin Lawrence
The ironic humor comes from the distance between what we understand about ourselves and what is truly going on in ourselves. -- Robert Olen Butler
There's no life without humour. It can make the wonderful moments of life truly glorious, and it can make tragic moments bearable. -- Rufus Wainwright
I love a girl with a good sense of humour, who is confident but who has a sweetness to her - that melts my heart. -- Gerard Butler
I think the most attractive thing is a sense of humour. If someone can make you laugh, you've gotten a lot out of the way. -- Kiefer Sutherland
My parents' divorce left me with a lot of sadness and pain and acting, and especially humour, was my way of dealing with all that. -- Jennifer Aniston
Where humor is concerned there are no standards - no one can say what is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will. -- John Kenneth Galbraith
My comedy is for children from three to 93. You do need a slightly childish sense of humour and if you haven't got that, it's very sad. -- Norman Wisdom
I love to bring humour into my work. Because comedy is not a huge part of the art world. And big-business film takes itself very seriously. -- James Franco
It turns out that understanding the British public is not rocket science. The British appreciate honesty and they also have a bonkers, off-the-wall sense of humour like me. -- Nicole Scherzinger
Life is hard. It is not too short, it is too long. But you have to learn how to live; you have to have a sense of humour. -- Carolina Herrera
It is sometimes forgotten how much wit there is in certain works of abstract art. There is a certain point in undergoing anguish when one encounters the comic. -- Robert Motherwell
The owl and the pussycat went to sea, / In a beautiful pea green boat. / They took some honey, and plenty of money, / Wrapped up in a five pound note. -- Edward Lear
All of us have schnozzles... if not in our faces, then in our character, minds or habits. When we admit our schnozzles, instead of defending them, we begin to laugh, and the world laughs with us. -- Jimmy Durante
My wife is way funnier than I am. As much as I don't really feel I share a sense of humour with my family, I definitely share one with her - we find the same things funny. -- Steve Carell
Not all journalists are really journalists. They ask such stupid questions sometimes, especially the newer ones, and because... these people can't tell if you're joking around, you just can't have any sense of humour; you really can't. -- Ray Liotta
I don't mock things, which makes me more vulnerable to mockery myself. If you're cynical, you're protected from mockery. But I have to be nice. I don't think I have irony. A sense of humour, yes, but not irony. -- Michel Gondry
My father and I had a good relationship, it was very relaxed. He had a lot of humour. He looked a little bit like me, although he had no beard. He had the appearance of a very elegant British-looking man. -- Michael Haneke
Comedy is the most difficult. Comic timing is something which you either have it in you, or you don't. You have to have a good sense of humour to be able to understand it. A split second can make you lose the punch. -- Deepika Padukone
I'm a diplomat by nature. I help find the middle ground. I crack a joke and use humour to help resolve potentially vicious situations quickly. It gets things in perspective and helps everyone to see that things aren't as bad as they seem. -- Ronnie Wood
I think that London is very much like that. I find there's humour in the air and people are interesting. And I think that it's a place which is constantly surprising. The worst thing about it? I think it can be smug and aggressive. -- Colin Firth
I tend to play characters that I can infuse with certain kinds of humour. Even the baddest guy can be funny in his own particular way. I want the audience to engage with the character on some deeper level so that they leave the cinema still thinking about him. -- Samuel L. Jackson
I had placed my stick on the table, as I do every evening. It had been specially made to suit my height, to enable me to walk without too much difficulty. As I was standing up, a customer called to me: 'Monsieur, don't forget your pencil.' It was very unkind, but most funny. -- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
One of my great regrets, and I don't have many, is that I spent too long putting people's status and reputation ahead of their more important qualities. I learned far too late in life that a long list of letters after someone's name is no guarantee of compassion, kindness, humour, all the far more relevant stuff. -- Bill Nighy
But I still read Shaw on a regular basis. What I love is the nakedness of the polemic and the irresistible good humour. For me, 'Major Barbara' is the greatest of all the plays in that it starts from the rational and proceeds to the ecstatic in a spectacular way, and leaves you very confused if you cling to Euclidean logic. -- Tony Kushner
Thus, I've created humour. -- Jon Stewart
With humour, there is life. -- JR
Madness has no sense of humour -- Adam Foulds
Cynicism is the humour of hatred -- Herbert Beerbohm Tree
There is nothing worse than annotated humour, -- Garry Trudeau
People don't get my sense of humour. -- Tamara Ecclestone
I think cynicism often disguises itself as humour. -- Michka Assayas
You should never try irony or self-effacing humour. -- Tim Robbins
A sense of humour is common sense dancing. -- Clive James
His [Bob Dylan] humour was dry and splendid. -- Bob Dylan
Every culture loves scatological humour. That's always a favourite. -- Alex D. Linz
Apparently, I have a totally different sense of humour. -- Andrew Eldritch
A British villain never loses their sense of humour. -- Tom Hooper
Making art is like humour - very moment dependent. -- Michael Denton
I refuse not to have a sense of humour. -- Ken Livingstone
A sense of humour is a sense of proportion. -- Khalil Gibran
A society without humour is like a tree without roots. -- Stephan Attia
According as the man is, so must you humour him. -- Jean Racine
The hall-mark of American humour is its pose of illiteracy. -- Ronald Knox
I like to always have humour in whatever I do. -- Adam Brody
Creativity and lateral thinking have exactly the same basis as humour. -- Edward de Bono
everybody fancies they have that rare thing, a sense of humour. -- Olivia Robertson
Taking the humour out of Dickens, it's not Dickens any more. -- Andrew Davies
Whenever you find humour, you find pathos close by its side. -- Edwin Percy Whipple
We are specially designed to appeal to the sense of humour. -- Oscar Wilde
musicians rarely have a sense of humour, at least, about themselves. -- Carolyn Wells
I like a man with a nice, self-deprecating sense of humour. -- Christina Hendricks
At home I've got a very puerile, juvenile sense of humour. -- Thom Yorke
Contrary to my image, I do have a sense of humour. -- Andy Murray
If you can find humour in anything, you can survive it -- Bill Cosby
A sense of humour is the only divine quality of man -- Arthur Schopenhauer
[W]ithout humour you cannot run a sweetie-shop, let alone a nation. -- John Buchan
I like someone with a really good and dark sense of humour. -- Paloma Faith
I imagine hell like this: Italian punctuality, German humour and English wine. -- Peter Ustinov
Writing humour certainly involves pain. A sitcom is 6 months of writing pain! -- Miranda Hart

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