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The things we laugh at are awful while they are going on, but get funny when we look back. And other people laugh because they’ve been through it too. The closest thing to humor is tragedy.

James Thurber

Comedy has to be done en clair. You can’t blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.
JAMES THURBER

Clear Comedy Famous Imagination Point
When all things are equal, translucence in writing is more effective than transparency, just as glow is more revealing than glare.
JAMES THURBER

Effective Equality Reveal Writing
You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
JAMES THURBER

Fools People Time Yourself
Let the meek inherit the earth — they have it coming to them.
JAMES THURBER

Come Earth Inheritance Weakness
You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.
JAMES THURBER

Face Fall Yourself
The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound, and the future is anybody’s guess.
JAMES THURBER

Future Guess Past Sound
The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself.
JAMES THURBER

Funny Himself Person Smart World
I never really rallied after the birth of my first child.
JAMES THURBER

Born Children Myself
A false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act.
JAMES THURBER

Act Creation Fake Misunderstanding Thinking
History is replete with proofs, from Cato the Elder to Kennedy the Younger, that if you scratch a statesman you find an actor, but it is becoming harder and harder, in our time, to tell government from show business.
JAMES THURBER

Business Evidence Government History Ourselves Time
If you wonder which is the stronger sex, watch which one twists the other around her little finger.
JAMES THURBER

Herself Man Sex Strong Woman Wonder
Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.
JAMES THURBER

Attention Beautiful One Liner
I never quite know when I’m not writing. Sometimes my wife comes up to me at a party and says, “Dammit, Thurber, stop writing.” She usually catches me in the middle of a paragraph.
JAMES THURBER

Catch Herself Known Myself Poet Quite Writing
The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.
JAMES THURBER

Dog Himself Level Man Success
The unicorn is a mythical beast.
JAMES THURBER

Fantasy Myth Unicorn
Looks can be deceiving; it’s eating that’s believing.
JAMES THURBER

Appearance Believe Eat One Liner

The things we laugh at are awful while they are going on, but get funny when we look back. And other people laugh because they’ve been through it too. The closest thing to humor is tragedy.

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The things we laugh at are awful while they are going on, but get funny when we look back. And other people laugh because they’ve been through it too. The closest thing to humor is tragedy.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More James Thurber Quotes