200 Quotes on laughter

“I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.”

PAUL SIMON, Song: The Only Living Boy In New York

“And so let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love, and once we begin to love each other naturally we want to do something.”

MOTHER TERESA, Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1979. 

“Smile…it makes people wonder what you’re up to.”

JILL SHALVIS (2010). “Simply Irresistible”, p.66, Hachette UK

“A good song can make you smile, or it can make you dance or laugh or remind you of a moment.”

CHARLI XCX, Source: coupdemainmagazine.com – Quotes on laughter

“The only thing I have to give to make you smile, to win you with, are all the mornings still to live.”

JONI MITCHELL, Song: Morning Morgantown, Album: Ladies of the Canyon

“Just because something makes you smile or laugh … doesn’t mean it’s a joke.”

DAVID REES, “Man Versus Machine” by Deirdre Foley Mendelssohn, August 12, 2010.

“I’m only being cute here. I don’t really mean it. I just wanted to make you smile.”

STEPHEN CHBOSKY (2013). “The Perks of Being a Wallflower YA edition”, p.28, Simon and Schuster – Quotes on laughter

“When one is pretending the entire body revolts.”

ANAIS NIN, “Winter of Artifice”. Book by Anais Nin, 1939.

“It was one of those fine little love stories that can make you smile in your sleep at night.”

HUNTER S. THOMPSON (2011). “Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the F”, p.336, Simon and Schuster

“Sometimes you have to smile by faith. If you’ll smile by faith, soon the joy will follow.”

JOEL OSTEEN (2012). “It’s Your Time and Become a Better You Boxed Set”, p.302, Simon and Schuster

“You can only hold a smile for so long, after that it’s just teeth.”

CHUCK PALAHNIUK (2011). “Invisible Monsters: A Novel”, p.164, W. W. Norton & Company

“Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.”

MARK TWAIN (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.443, Courier Corporation

“The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief.”

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, ‘Othello’ (1602-4) act 1, sc. 3, l. 208 – Quotes on laughter

“Look back, and smile on perils past.”

Walter Scott (1873). “Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott …”, p.339

“Those who weep recover more quickly than those who smile.”

JEAN GIRAUDOUX (1964). “Three plays”

“She smiled at him, and at her own fears.”

LEO TOLSTOY (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy (Illustrated)”, p.2088, Delphi Classics

“Better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad.”

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, “Remember” l. 13 (1862)

“A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.”

HERMAN MELVILLE (1963). “Works”

“When things are difficult, smile by faith. Don’t wait until you feel better.”

JOEL OSTEEN (2011). “Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week”, p.33, Hachette UK – Quotes on laughter

“For Beauty’s tears are lovelier than her smile.”

THOMAS CAMPBELL (1804). “The Pleasures of Hope: With Other Poems and The Pleasures of Memory”, p.10

“Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing.”

KEN KESEY (2016). “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, p.36, Hamilton Books

“Colors are the smiles of nature.”

“Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.”

LORD BYRON (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Lord Byron (Illustrated)”, p.809, Delphi Classics

“Beauty is truth’s smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror.”

RABINDRANATH TAGORE (2007). “Poems”, p.452, Atlantic Publishers & Dist

“One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.”

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, ‘Hamlet’ (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 105 – Quotes on laughter

“She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket.”

RAYMOND CHANDLER, Farewell, My Lovely ch. 18 (1940)

“It is impossible to persuade a man who does not disagree, but smiles.”

MURIEL SPARK (2015). “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”, p.68, Canongate Books

“Out where the handclasp’s a little stronger, Out where the smile dwells a little longer, That’s where the West begins.”

ARTHUR CHAPMAN, “Out Where theWest Begins” l. 1 (1916) – Quotes to make you smile

“We bleed, we tremble; we forget, we smile – The mind turns fool, before the cheek is dry”

EDWARD YOUNG (1793). “Night thoughts on life death and immortality … to which are added the life of the author and a paraphrase on part of the Book of Job”, p.105

“The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions – the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.”

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, The Friend (1828)

“You can’t say you’re happy either. You don’t even smile for me.”

DRAKE, Song: Lets Call It Off, Album: So Far Gone, 2009 – Quotes on laughter

“It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile.”

STING, Song: Englishman in New York

“As happy a man as any in the world, for the whole world seems to smile upon me!”

SAMUEL PEPYS (1997). “The Concise Pepys”, p.173, Wordsworth Editions

“Never a lip is curved with pain that can’t be kissed into smiles again.”

BRET HARTE (2016). “Poetical Works, Complete: Top American Novelist”, p.112, VM eBooks

“Oh no. Don’t smile. You’ll kill me. I stop breathing when you smile.”

TESSA DARE (2009). “A Lady of Persuasion”, p.20, Ballantine Books

“May Heaven be propitious, and smile on the cause of my country.”

ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE (1987). “The expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike”, Dover Pubns

“To smile at the jest which plants a thorn in another’s breast is to become a principal in the mischief.”

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN (2010). “Modern English Drama”, p.116, Cosimo, Inc. – Quotes on laughter

“Reproof on her lip, but a smile in her eye.”

SAMUEL LOVER (1844). “Songs and Ballads”, p.7

“And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall, By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.”

WILFRED OWEN, 1918 ‘Strange Meeting’, collected in Poems (published1920).

“Focus on giving smiles away and you will always discover that your own smiles will always be in great supply!”

JOYCE MEYER (2009). “I Dare You: Embrace Life with Passion”, p.40, Hachette UK+

“You’re never fully dressed without a smile.”

MARTIN CHARNIN (1977). “Annie: Libretto/vocal Book”

“Don’t cry for a man who’s left you–the next one may fall for your smile.”

Mae West (1967). “The wit and wisdom of Mae West”

“And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”

KHALIL GIBRAN (2014). “The Prophet – Der Prophet”, p.18,  – Quotes on laughter

“We never respect those who amuse us, however we may smile at their comic powers”

MARGUERITE GARDINER (Countess of Blessington.) (1839). “Desultory Thoughts and Reflections”, p.17

‘She smiled, and there it was again, that aching pressure in his chest. Love, or a heart attack. Kind of the same thing.”

KRISTAN HIGGINS (2012). “Somebody To Love”, p.331, HQN Books

“Someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of human beings.”

MILES FRANKLIN (2017). “Childhood At Brindabella: My First Ten Years”, p.114, ETT Imprint – Quotes on laughter

“We may smile at these matters, but they are melancholy illustrations.”

JOSEPH HOWE (1858). “Speeches and Public Letters”, p.39

“You see, with me, when I’m nervous, I smile and laugh.”

PAUL RADCLIFFE, “Paula Radcliffe” by Jim White, www.theguardian.com. August 19, 2001.

“Smile As you find a rhythm Working you, slow mile by mile, Into your proper haunt.”

SEAMUS HEANEY (2014). “Field Work: Poems”, p.16, Macmillan

“Sweetest smile is made saddest tear-drop!”

EDWIN ARNOLD (1885). “The Secret of Death, from the Sanskrit: With Some Collected Poems”

“A simile is just a metaphor with the scaffolding still up.”

JAMES GEARY (2011). “I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How it Shapes the Way We See the World”, p.8, Harper Collins

“When Fortune smiles, I smile to think how quickly she will frown.”

SAINT ROBERT SOUTHWELL (1856). “The Poetical Works of the Rev. Robert Southwell”, p.59 – Quotes on laughter

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch.”

LEO BUSCAGLIA, “Love”. Book by Leo Buscaglia, 1972.

“Smiling is confusing, she thought. This is why I don’t do it.”

RAINBOW ROWELL (2013). “Fangirl”, p.149, Pan Macmillan

“Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that is how I’ll remember you all. If you can only remember me with tears, then don’t remember me at all.”

LAURA INGALLS WILDER, “Fictional character: Reverend Robert Alden”. TV Series “Little House on the Prairie” (“Remember Me: Part 1”, 1975), www.imdb.com. 1974–1983. – Quotes on laughter

“I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.”

WOODY ALLEN, “Positive Words, Powerful Results”. Book by Hal Urban (p. 105), 2004.

“With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1999). “The Wit & Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: A Treasury of Quotations, Anecdotes, and Observations”, Gramercy

“Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.”

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, “The Will to Power”. Book by Friedrich Nietzsche, 1888. – Quotes on laughter

“Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.”

W.H. AUDEN, Dyer’s Hand (1963) “Notes on the Comic”

“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”

MARK TWAIN, The Mysterious Stranger ch. 10 (1916)

“The vulgar only laugh, but never smile; whereas well-bred people often smile, but seldom laugh.”

LORD CHESTERFIELD, Letter to his son, February 17, 1754.

“I prefer your smiles and laughter, wife, but there are far worse things than your tears wetting my skin.”

KRISTEN ASHLEY (2011). “Wildest Dreams”, p.211, Rock Chick LLC

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.”

ALBERT EINSTEIN (2010). “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein”, p.188, Princeton University Press – Quotes on laughter

“There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.”

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE (2016). “Elective Affinities”, p.142, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails.”

MAX EASTMAN (2008). “Enjoyment of Laughter”, p.34, Transaction Publishers

“He who laughs…..lasts.”

ERMA BOMBECK (2013). “Forever, Erma: Best-Loved Writing From America’s Favorite Humorist”, p.46, Open Road Media

“Laughter is the valve on the pressure cooker of life.”

WAVY GRAVY, “Interview: Wavy Gravy : Saint Misbehavin'”. Interview with Richard Whittaker, www.conversations.org. December 21, 2010 – Quotes on laughter

“I never would have made it if I could not have laughed. It lifted me momentarily out of this horrible situation, just enough to make it livable.”

VIKTOR E. FRANKL, “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Book by Viktor Frankl, www.huffingtonpost.com. 1946.

“Earth laughs in flowers.”

RALPH WALDO EMERSON (2016). “Selected Writings”, p.306, Simon and Schuster

“In the vain laughter of folly wisdom hears half its applause.”

GEORGE ELIOT (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of George Eliot (Illustrated)”, p.1223, Delphi Classics

“To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter.”

FRANCOISE SAGAN, 1965 La Chamade, ch.9. – Quotes on laughter

“Laughter is a form of internal jogging. It moves your internal organs around. It enhances respiration. It is an igniter of great expectations.”

NORMAN COUSINS (1989). “Head First: The Biology of Hope and the Healing Power of the Human Spirit”, Penguin Group USA

“Life is a huge farce, and the advantage of possessing a sense of humour is that it enables one to defy fate with mocking laughter.”

GEORGE GISSING (2015). “New Grub Street”, p.153, Booklassic

“A human being should beware how he laughs, for then he shows all his faults.”

RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1969). “Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume VII: 1838-1842”, p.115, Harvard University Press

“’Tis a good thing to laugh at any rate; and if a straw can tickle a man, it is an instrument of happiness.”

JOHN DRYDEN (1990). “The Works of John Dryden, Volume XX: Prose 1691-1698 De Arte Graphica and Shorter Works”, p.56, Univ of California Press – Quotes on laughter

“The laughter of girls is, and ever was, among the delightful sounds of earth.”

THOMAS DE QUINCEY (1853). “De Quincey’s works”, p.85

“Assuredly it would be a pity if laughter should ever become, like rhetoric and the arts, a habit.”

ALICE MEYNELL (1925). “Essays”

“Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.”

NORMAN COUSINS (2016). “Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration”, p.34, Open Road Media

“Laughter springs from the lawless part of our nature.”

Agnes Repplier (1936). “In Pursuit of Laughter …”, Boston : Houghton Mifflin – Quotes on laughter

“I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that.”

ELLEN DEGENERES, “Ellen DeGeneres: Nice Girls Finish First”. Interview with David Hochman, September 10, 2011.

“I can usually judge a fellow by what he laughs at.”

WILSON MIZNER (1979*). “Debauched Proverbs and Other Miznerisms of Addison Mizner and Wilson Mizner”

“Nothing is more silly than silly laughter.”

CATULLUS, “Carmina”. XXXIX, 16,

“To laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity.”

PLINY THE ELDER (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder (Illustrated)”, p.392, Delphi Classics

“One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.”

JANE AUSTEN, Pride and Prejudice ch. 40 (1813)

“From quiet homes and first beginning, out to the undiscovered ends, there’s nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.”

HILAIRE BELLOC, Verses (1910) “Dedicatory Ode” – Quotes on laughter

“Frequent and loud laughter is the characteristic of folly and ill manners.”

LORD CHESTERFIELD (2008). “Lord Chesterfield’s Letters”, p.72, Oxford University Press