James Thurber Laughter Quotations

The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms / hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal.

Remember laughter. You'll need it even in the blessed isles of Ever After.

The appreciative smile, the chuckle, the soundless mirth, so important to the success of comedy, cannot be understood unless one sits among the audience and feels the warmth created by the quality of laughter that the audience takes home with it.

Laughter need not be cut out of anything, since it improves everything.

The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms -hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal.

We are a nation that has always gone in for the loud laugh, the wow, the yak, the belly laugh, and the dozen other labels for the roll- em-in-the-aisles gagerissimo. This is the kind of laugh that delights actors, directors, and producers, but dismays writers of comedy because it is the laugh that often dies in the lobby. The appreciative smile, the chuckle, the soundless mirth, so important to the success of comedy, cannot be understood unless one sits among the audience and feels the warmth created by the quality of laughter that the audience takes home with it.

Humor and pathos, tears and laughter are, in the highest expression of human character and achievement, inseparable.