“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road
“Everything human is pathetic. The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.
“Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.
“Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh
“If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter
“Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty
“Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity
“One should never risk a joke, even of the mildest and most unexceptional charters, except among people of culture and wit
“It is a great misfortune not to possess sufficient wit to speak well, nor sufficient judgment to keep silent
“The teller of a mirthful tale has latitude allowed him. We are content with less than absolute truth