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 THURBERComedy has ceased to be a challenge to the mental processes. It has become a therapy of relaxation, a kind of tranquilizing drug.
More James Thurber Quotes
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Humourists lead… an existence of jumpiness and apprehension. They sit on the edge of the chair of Literature. In the house of Life they have the feeling that they have never taken off their overcoats.
JAMES THURBER -
Looks can be deceiving; it’s eating that’s believing.
JAMES THURBER -
Sixty minutes of thinking of any kind is bound to lead to confusion and unhappiness.
JAMES THURBER -
A burden in the bush is worth two on your hands.
JAMES THURBER -
The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms -hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal.
JAMES THURBER -
You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
JAMES THURBER -
I write humor the way a surgeon operates, because it is a livelihood, because I have a great urge to do it, because many interesting challenges are set up, and because I have the hope it may do some good.
JAMES THURBER -
Americans want to go to heaven without dying.
JAMES THURBER -
Women are wiser than men because they know less and understand more.
JAMES THURBER -
If you wonder which is the stronger sex, watch which one twists the other around her little finger.
JAMES THURBER -
The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself.
JAMES THURBER -
But what is all this fear of and opposition to Oblivion? What is the matter with the soft Darkness, the Dreamless Sleep?
JAMES THURBER -
A pinch of probability is worth a pound of perhaps.
JAMES THURBER -
The trouble with the lost generation is that it didn’t get lost enough.
JAMES THURBER -
Love is what you’ve been through with somebody.
JAMES THURBER