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c7f2430 If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is. laughter loss sacrifice isolation flame Charles Bukowski
05e92c7 There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor. laughter Charles Dickens
dd557c4 I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing. laughter Herman Melville
96f955e If only she could be so oblivious again, to feel such love without knowing it, mistaking it for laughter. laughter love oblivious Markus Zusak
59b0205 I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh. laughter smiles Jane Austen
4658b9f With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come. laughter shakespeare happiness William Shakespeare
731243c And I have one of those very loud, stupid laughs. I mean if I ever sat behind myself in a movie or something, I'd probably lean over and tell myself to please shut up. laughter J.D. Salinger
2a93c03 Laughter is poison to fear. laughter fear happiness catelyn-stark george-r-r-martin wise poison George R.R. Martin
8e03dc2 " "Four be the things I am wiser to know: Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe. Four be the things I'd been better without: Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt. Three be the things I shall never attain: Envy, content, and sufficient champagne. Three be the things I shall have till I die: Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye." laughter doubt sorrow friends hope life love wisdom idleness foes inventory contentment sufficienty superfluity unattainable envy curiosity knowledge values Dorothy Parker
e094524 Laugh whenever you can. Keeps you from killing yourself when things are bad. That and vodka. laughter sanity drinking sanya harry-dresden Jim Butcher
f82e334 You had to know a person well to make them laugh like that. laughter love Cassandra Clare
76e817c But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. laughter humor philosophy Carl Sagan
db9fb6d Laughter is carbonated holiness. laughter humor inspirational Anne Lamott
afbe6b9 Lonely people have enthusiasms which cannot always be explained. When something strikes them as funny, the intensity and length of their laughter mirrors the depth of their loneliness, and they are capable of laughing like hyenas. When something touches their emotions, it runs through them like Paul Revere, awakening feelings that gather into great armies. laughter loneliness lonely-people intensity Mark Helprin
934e1f5 Anything with the power to make you laugh over thirty years later isn't a waste of time. I think something like that is very close to immortality. laughter Stephen King
7afe7b1 Laughter is good for you. Nine out of ten stand-up comedians recommend laughter in the face of intense stupidity. laughter humor Jim Butcher
2451710 He had an idea that even when beaten he could steal a little victory by laughing at defeat. laughter inspirational John Steinbeck
89d05d2 An infinite question is often destroyed by finite answers. To define everything is to annihilate much that gives us laughter and joy. laughter joy finite questions Madeleine L'Engle
65856c6 "Now,young lady,I suppose you're here for a work assignment." Work?" Tally said. They both looked down at her puzzled expression, and Shay burst into laughter." laughter work burst puzzled uglies expression one Scott Westerfeld
d14110d All the energy of their frustration and fear going into their laughter. laughter frustration Hubert Selby Jr.
76ee024 I'm not up for laughing, but their laughter makes the room feel safer, so we begin to explore. laughter safety John Green
52d0b93 " Chattering finch and water-fly Are not merrier than I; Here among the flowers I lie Laughing everlastingly. No: I may not tell the best; Surely, friends, I might have guessed laughter hope skeleton G.K. Chesterton
a622528 It is so good to have friends who understand how there is a time for crying and a time for laughing, and that sometimes the two are very close together. laughter happy joy friendship true-friend crying sad Lois Lowry
a6c371a "You know what the doctor said to me to cheer me up?" Fat said. "There are worse diseases than cancer." "Did he show you slides?" We both laughed. When you are nearly crazy with grief, you laugh at what you can." laughter grief doctors disease Philip K. Dick
362b88a Individual cultures and ideologies have their appropriate uses but none of them erase or replace the universal experiences, like love and weeping and laughter, common to all human beings. laughter joy humanity angel-art appropriate-application common-ground cultural-boundaries cultural-demographics cultural-heritage cultural-literacy demographics universal-truths ideologies ideology-religion-war-compromise philosophy-for-millennials racial-division racial-identity social-philosophy sociological-imagination universal-love cultural-differences waging-peace ending-violent-jihad anti-racism ending-war faith-in-love interfaith-dialogue multiculturalismo faith-in-humanity peacism antiracism spiritual-philosophy joy-of-life coexistence cultural-relativism nonviolent-conflict-resolution human-condition universal multiculturalism love-for-humanity diversity universality race-relations weeping human-beings ideology Aberjhani
b62c0cd You may forget the one with whom you have laughed, but never the one with whom you have wept. laughter rememberance weeping memory Kahlil Gibran
570e130 The F word turns me on, she whispered. The F word? Food He threw back his head and laughed. It rumbled up out of his chest and felt so good it startled him. For the first time in years,his laughter was spontaneous. It wasn`t tinged with bitterness and cynicism. laughter humor sandra-brown Sandra Brown
3151b40 I have cried even when the laugh did choke me. But no more think that I am all sorry when I cry, for the laugh he come just the same. Keep it always with you that laughter who knock at your door and say, 'May I come in?' is not true laughter. No! He is a king, and he come when and how he like. He ask no person, he choose no time of suitability. He say, 'I am here. laughter grief joy Bram Stoker
49bdc31 Laughing at the universe liberated my life. I escape its weight by laughing. I refuse any intellectual translations of this laughter, since my slavery would commence from that point on. laughter liberation Georges Bataille
b51a7dd While McMurphy laughs. Rocking farther and farther backward against the cabin top,spreading his laugh across the water. Laughing at the girl,at the guys, at George,at me sucking my bleeding thumb, at the captain back at the pier and the bicycle rider and the service station guys and the five thousand houses and the Big Nurse and all of it. Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy. He know's there's a painful side; he knows my thumb smarts and his girl friend has a bruised breast and the doctor is losing his glasses, but he won't let the pain blot out the humor no more'n he'll let the humor blot out the pain. laughter pain laughing hurt Ken Kesey
98b046d They laughed too, even Rose Dear shook her head and smiled, and suddenly the world was right side up. Violet learned then what she had forgotten until this moment: that laughter is serious. More complicated, more serious than tears. laughter Toni Morrison
78b3205 Everything was hysterically funny, even the playground slide was smiling at us, and at some point, deep in the night, when we were winging on the jungle gym and showers of sparks were flying out of our mouths, I had the epiphany that laughter was light, and light was laughter, and that this was the secret of the universe. laughter light tripping Donna Tartt
cd183fb She suddenly found herself laughing without bitterness. laughter L.M. Montgomery
8e0d34f As to the mouth, it delights at times in laughter; it is disposed to impart all that the brain conceives; though I daresay it would be silent on much the heart experiences. Mobile and flexible, it was never intended to be compressed in the eternal silence of solitude: it is a mouth which should speak much and smile often, and have human affection for its interlocutor. laughter smiles Charlotte Brontë
e232d08 She laughed - a bit louder than I could have wished in my frail state of health, but then she is always a woman who tends to bring plaster falling from the ceiling when amused. laughter jeeves wodehouse P.G. Wodehouse
7c65ea1 He knows that you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy laughter mental-illness mental-health Ken Kesey
9f197d4 "Oh, don't go on like that!" cried the poor Queen, wringing her hands in despair. "Consider what a great girl you are. Consider what a long way you've come today. Consider what o'clock it is. Consider anything, only don't cry!" Alice could not help laughing at this, even in the midst of her tears. "Can you keep from crying by considering things?" she asked. "That's that way it's done," the Queen said with great decision: "nobody can do two things at once, you know." laughter distraction wonderland crying Lewis Carroll
5891b51 I believe that the ability to laugh at oneself is fundamental to the resiliency of the human spirit. laughter laugh-at-yourself Jill Conner Browne
94dafd5 Then he heard a wild, high-pitched cackling that made the hair stand up on the back of his neck. It wasn't sane, that laugh. In fact, it was the laughter of someone who never had more than a nodding acquaintance with sanity. laughter sanity Mercedes Lackey
51c12f4 Her faith in a loving and forgiving God is strong, but she worships laughter. laughter worship Miriam Toews
c76877f "God, don't laugh!" Jamie said, alarmed. "I didna mean to make ye laugh! Christ, Jenny will kill me if ye cough up a lung and die out here!" laughter ian-murray jamie-fraser Diana Gabaldon
c2c9b17 if you can't make a joke at a time like this, what's the point of living? laughter life Chloe Neill
84adb85 There is a species of primate in South America more gregarious than most other mammals, with a curious behavior.The members of this species often gather in groups, large and small, and in the course of their mutual chattering , under a wide variety of circumstances, they are induced to engage in bouts of involuntary, convulsive respiration, a sort of loud, helpless, mutually reinforcing group panting that sometimes is so severe as to incapacitate them. Far from being aversive,however, these attacks seem to be sought out by most members of the species, some of whom even appear to be addicted to them. ...the species in Homo sapiens (which does indeed inhabit South America, among other places), and the behavior is laughter. laughter humor popular-psychology phenomenology popular-science Daniel C. Dennett
ffec03e They hooted and laughed all the way back to the car, teasing Milkman, egging him on to tell more about how scared he was. And he told them. Laughing too, hard, loud, and long. Really laughing, and he found himself exhilarated by simply walking the earth. Walking it like he belonged on it; like his legs were stalks, tree trunks, a part of his body that extended down down down into the rock and soil, and were comfortable there--on the earth and on the place where he walked. And he did not limp. laughter belonging Toni Morrison
5e359dc Sincere and unspiteful laughter is mirth, but where is there any mirth in our time, and do people know how to be mirthful?... A man's mirth is a feature that gives away the whole man, from head to foot. Someone's character won't be cracked for a long time then the man bursts out laughing somehow quite sincerely, and his whole character suddenly opens up as if on the flat of your hand. Only a man of the loftiest and happiest development knows how to be mirthful infectiously, that is, irresistibly and goodheartedly. I'm not speaking of his mental development, but of his character, of the whole man. And so, if you want to discern a man and know his soul, you must look, not at how he keeps silent, or how he speaks, or how we weeps, or even how he is stirred by the noblest ideas, but you had better look at him when he laughs. If a man has a good laugh, it means he's a good man. laughter dostoevsky mirth Fyodor Dostoyevsky
e705f8e It was a time for warm embraces, for smiles, for toasts and reconciliations, for renewing old friendships and making new ones, for laughter and kisses. It was a good time, a golden autumn, a time of peace and plenty. But winter was coming. laughter happiness time-for-love winter-is-coming prosperity peace threat ominous George R.R. Martin
c6c245f One secret of life is that the reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day. Another secret is that laughter is carbonated holiness. laughter secret life tribe holiness Anne Lamott
54a3539 In 1881, being on a visit to Boston, my wife and I found ourselves in the Parker House with the 's, and went over to Charleston to hear him lecture. His subject was 'Some Mistakes of Moses,' and it was a memorable experience. Our lost leaders, -- , , Theodore Parker, -- who had really spoken to disciples rather than to the nation, seemed to have contributed something to form this organ by which their voice could reach the people. . The wonderful power which Washington's Attorney-general, Edmund Randolph, ascribed to of insinuating his ideas equally into learned and unlearned had passed from 's pen to 's tongue. . { } laughter sympathy emotion poetry morality reason imagination friendship humor love truth wisdom inspirational lecture henry-d-thoreau henry-thoreau mirth orator pathos ralph-e-emerson ralph-emerson ralph-waldo-emerson some-mistakes-of-moses henry-david-thoreau ingersoll robert-g-ingersoll robert-green-ingersoll robert-ingersoll emerson memorable praise boston art thoreau simplicity paine thomas-paine tears respect logic honor power speech voice Moncure Daniel Conway
f7bffa4 "You certainly remember this scene from dozens of films: a boy and a girl are running hand in hand in a beautiful spring (or summer) landscape. Running, running, running and laughing. By laughing the two runners are proclaiming to the whole world, to audiences in all the movie theaters: "We're happy, we're glad to be in the world, we're in agreement with being!" It's a silly scene, a cliche, but it expresses a basic human attitude: serious laughter, laughter "beyond joking." All churches, all underwear manufacturers, all generals, all political parties, are in agreement about that kind of laughter, and all of them rush to put the image of the two laughing runners on the billboards advertising their religion, their products, their ideology, their nation, their sex, their dishwashing powder." -- laughter happiness philosophy czech kitsch meaning-of-life existentialism novel Milan Kundera
aee6a11 No peace is possible between the novelist and the agelaste [those who do not laugh]. Never having heard God's laughter, the agelastes are convinced that the truth is obvious, that all men necessarily think the same thing, and that they themselves are exactly what they think they are. But it is precisely in losing the certainty of truth and the unanimous agreement of others that man becomes an individual. The novel is the imaginary paradise of individuals. It is the territory where no one possesses the truth, neither Anna nor Karenin, but where everyone has the right to be understood, both Anna and Karenin. laughter truth uniformity essay individual art uncertainty novel Milan Kundera
75fde24 "Mrs. Russell made us both sit down with a glass of milk. "And I have a special treat for you," she said. I'm not lying. She really said that. I held my breath because of the last special treat at the Daughertys', but it didn't help, because when Mrs. Russell came back, she came back with a loaf of banana bread. Banana bread! And James said, "How about we have some jam with that?" and Mrs. Russell said, "Jam? Then you wouldn't be able to taste the bananas," and James said, "Ma, I hate bananas," and she said, "But I'm sure that Doug enjoys them," and I said, "I think I'm still full from lunch, so the milk's fine," and then Mrs. Russell picked up the plate with the banana bread on it, and you might not believe this, but she started to laugh and laugh a d laugh, until Mr. Russell came out to the kitchen to see what was so funny and she showed him the banana bread and he said, "I hate bananas," and we all started to laugh until Mrs. Russell said, "I hate bananas too," and you can imagine us all laughing until we were crying and finally Mrs. Russell took the banana bread outside to break it up for the birds-"Let's hope they like bananas"-and then I showed Mr. Russell Aaron Copland's Autobiography: Manuscript Edition, and he stopped laughing." laughter funny Gary D. Schmidt
5d7f451 And her laugh was enough to make you want to kick over what you were doing and follow her down the street. laughter mothers Donna Tartt
2504e5f I don't know why it was, exactly, but nothing irritated my father quite like the sound of his children's happiness. Group crying, he could stand, but group laughing was asking for it, especially at the dinner table. laughter crying David Sedaris
4431b0a Not individuals but institutions are the enemies, and they most afflict the disciples who the most generously serve them. They insinuate their tyranny under a hundred guises and pompous names, such as Polite Society, the Family, the Church, Sound Business, the Party, the Country, the Superior White Race; and the only defense against them, Carol beheld, was unembittered laughter. laughter institutions Sinclair Lewis
cef6762 The voice of a donkey braying in the neighbouring meadow seemed like the mocking laughter of demons. laughter humour spats P.G. Wodehouse
91ed41e Perhaps no one really knows us who does not know the way we laugh. laughter love Valeria Luiselli
4d1d6e4 During the last ten years of his life my father gradually lost the power of speech. At first he simply had trouble calling up certain words or would say similar words instead and then immediately laugh at himself. In the end he had only a handful of words left, and all his attempts at saying anything more substantial resulted in one of the last sentences he could articulate: 'That's strange.' Whenever he said 'That's strange,' his eyes would express an infinite astonishment at knowing everything and being able to say nothing. Things lost their names and merged into a single, undifferentiated reality. I was the only one who by talking to him could temporarily transform that nameless infinity into the world of clearly named entities. laughter Milan Kundera
bc6f153 It was at a conference in Cyprus in 1976, where the theme was the rights of small nations, that I first met Edward Said. It was impossible not to be captivated by him: of his many immediately seductive qualities I will start by mentioning a very important one. When he laughed, it was as if he was surrendering unconditionally to some guilty pleasure. At first the very picture of professorial rectitude, with faultless tweeds, cravats, and other accoutrements (the pipe also being to the fore), he would react to a risque remark, or a disclosure of something vaguely scandalous, as if a whole Trojan horse of mirth had been smuggled into his interior and suddenly disgorged its contents. The build-up, in other words, was worth one's effort. laughter cyprus edward-said Christopher Hitchens
7478526 There is a kind of laughter that sickens the soul. Laughter when it is out of control: when it screams and stamps its feet, and sets the bells jangling in the next town. Laughter in all its ignorance and its cruelty. Laughter with the seed of Satan in it. It tramples upon shrines; the belly-roarer. It roars, it yells, it is delirious: and yet it is as cold as ice. It has no humour. It is naked noise and naked malice. laughter malevolence the-mob Mervyn Peake
c1094a8 They were even talking about buying a bodyguard, can you believe it? I mean, what on earth would I look like, turning up with a bodyguard? Actually, I'd look pretty cool and mysterious, wouldn't I? That might have been quite a good idea. laughter humorous witty Sophie Kinsella
d6917e0 We're so accustomed to laughing. It's harder for us when the time comes that we can't laugh. experiences laughter feelings joy difficulty problems Lois Lowry
bd2a2ac Out on the lawn, Bunny had just knocked Henry's ball about seventy feet outside the court. There was a ragged burst of laughter; faint, but clear, it floated back across the evening air. That laughter haunts me still. laughter donna-tartt the-secret-history haunting melancholy sad Donna Tartt
a97fc90 "Isn't God the one who urges us to "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord"? Why do we always think that means singing? Seems to me the most obvious joyful sound on earth is laughter... I've seen folks quote verses like "Rejoice in the Lord always" while their faces look like they just buried a rich uncle who willed everything to his pregnant guinea pig. Something is missing." laughter joyful-noise philippians laugh Charles R. Swindoll
0594adb "Shergahn and friend lay like poleaxed steers, and the Daranfelian's greasy hair was thick with potatoes, carrots, gravy, and chunks of beef. His companion had less stew in his hair, but an equally large lump was rising fast, and Brandark flipped his improvised club into the air, caught it in proper dipping position, and filled it once more from the pot without even glancing at them. He raised the ladle to his nose, inhaled deeply, and glanced at the cook with an impudent twitch of his ears. "Smells delicious," he said while the laughter started up all around the fire. "I imagine a bellyful of this should help a hungry man sleep. Why, just look what a single ladle of it did for Shergahn!" laughter sleep good humorous defeat funny humor lump steer yummy stew triumph delicious shame bully food David Weber
071772b Maybe he couldn't understand why we weren't able to laugh yet, but he knew you can't really be strong until you can see a funny side to things. laughter Ken Kesey
3f0da0c Laughter is like crying. laughter love tears Lisa Renee Jones
136fed8 You'd probably start laughing because you'd realize that your fears had been the result of a gigantic cosmic joke that had persisted throughout all of your previous reincarnations. laughter courage fear reincarnation fears scared David D. Burns
ea5ed26 "R.I.P. Jerry Lewis laughter god life jerry jerry-lewis lewis r-i-p chance laugh Anthony T.Hincks