114 Laughter Quotes

There's something truly magical about laughter – it's the universal language of joy that transcends borders, cultures, and even ages. Whether it’s a hearty belly laugh that leaves you gasping for breath or a light giggle that brightens your day, laughter has an unparalleled ability to uplift our spirits and bring us together. In this post, we're delighted to share with you a carefully curated collection of the top 114 laughter quotes. These gems of wisdom from comedians, writers, and thinkers around the world capture the essence of why laughter is such a vital part of our lives. So sit back, relax, and prepare to be inspired by the power of laughter.

1. “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

2. “He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” - Rafael Sabatini

3. “Everything in our background has prepared us to know and resist a prison when the gates begin to close around us . . . But what if there are no cries of anguish to be heard? Who is prepared to take arms against a sea of amusements? To whom do we complain, and when, and in what tone of voice, when serious discourse dissolves into giggles? What is the antidote to a culture's being drained by laughter?” - Neil Postman

4. “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.” - Carl Sagan

5. “I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It's probably the most important thing in a person.” - Audrey Hepburn

6. “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.” - George Bernard Shaw

7. “The earth laughs in flowers.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. “Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be.” - William Hazlitt

9. “The joke loses everything when the joker laughs himself.” - Friedrich von Schiller

10. “Some sleepers have intelligent faces even in sleep, while other faces, even intelligent ones, become very stupid in sleep and therefore ridiculous. I don't know what makes that happen; I only want to say that a laughing man, like a sleeping one, most often knows nothing about his face. A great many people don't know how to laugh at all. However, there's nothing to know here: it's a gift, and it can't be fabricated. It can only be fabricated by re-educating oneself, developing oneself for the better, and overcoming the bad instincts of one's character; then the laughter of such a person might quite possibly change for the better. A man can give himself away completely by his laughter, so that you suddenly learn all of his innermost secrets. Even indisputably intelligent laughter is sometimes repulsive. Laughter calls first of all for sincerity, and where does one find sincerity? Laughter calls for lack of spite, but people most often laugh spitefully. Sincere and unspiteful laughter is mirth. 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 he 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. Note at the same time all the nuances: for instance, a man's laughter must in no case seem stupid to you, however merry and simplehearted it may be. The moment you notice the slightest trace of stupidity in someone's laughter, it undoubtedly means that the man is of limited intelligence, though he may do nothing but pour out ideas. Or if his laughter isn't stupid, but the man himself, when he laughs, for some reason suddenly seems ridiculous to you, even just slightly—know, then, that the man has no real sense of dignity, not fully in any case. Or finally, if his laughter is infectious, but for some reason still seems banal to you, know, then, that the man's nature is on the banal side as well, and all the noble and lofty that you noticed in him before is either deliberately affected or unconsciously borrowed, and later on the man is certain to change for the worse, to take up what's 'useful' and throw his noble ideas away without regret, as the errors and infatuations of youth.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky

11. “I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.” - Billy Joel

12. “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.” - Charles Bukowski

13. “Laughter is carbonated holiness.” - Anne Lamott

14. “The only honest art form is laughter, comedy. You can't fake it...try to fake three laughs in an hour -- ha ha ha ha ha -- they'll take you away, man. You can't.” - Lenny Bruce

15. “There is no greater power than that of a laugh and happiness is a force which can save a person from the horrors of the world.” - Hillary DePiano

16. “We can only feel sorry for ourselves when our misfortunes are still supportable. Once this limit is crossed, the only way to bear the unbearable is to laugh at it.” - Marjane Satrapi

17. “Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine.” - Lord Byron

18. “I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.” - Herman Melville

19. “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.” - Jane Austen

20. “Laughter is wine for the soul - laughter soft, or loud and deep, tinged through with seriousness - the hilarious declaration made by man that life is worth living.” - Seán O'Casey

21. “Our flesh is a gift of laughter.” - Harley King

22. “What I'd show you is much more bizarre than anything we have looked at so far, and I warn you in advance that the first impulse will be to laugh. That's all right. Laugh if you must. Just don't take your eye off what you see, for even in your imagination, here is a creature who can do you damage.” - Stephen King

23. “We passed from laughter to terror which, like love and hate, are close relatives.” - Lise Deharme

24. “You gotta laugh because if you didn't you'd cry” - Craig Ferguson

25. “and our few good times will be rare because we have the critical senseand are not easy to fool with laughter” - Charles Bukowski

26. “And though Remi was having worklife problems and bad lovelife with a sharp-tongued woman, he at least had learned to laugh almost better than anyone in the world, and I saw all the fun we were going to have in Frisco. ” - Jack Kerouac

27. “Even amidst tragedy there is laughter, sometimes farce. The degree of farce depends on who is running the tragedy.” - Daniel Prokop

28. “People who stop laughing are always the ones who get hurt.” - Josh Sundquist

29. “I am fated to journey hand in hand with my strange heroes and to survey the surging immensity of life, to survey it through the laughter that all can see and through the tears unseen and unknown by anyone.” - Nikolai Gogol

30. “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” - Charles Dickens

31. “Did you bite someone?' Jack enquired.'I laughed at people, which is much worse. My laughter has sharper teeth than any dog. It tears people apart who wish to be taken seriously, but I could not help myself. There were many complaints and finally a man in a brown suit came and looked at me. He was very important and not used to being laughed at, but I could see he had dandruff on his collar, and there was a spot of his breakfast egg on his lapel. You should have seen him - so puffed up and proud of himself. I couldn't help but laugh and that made people see him as I did, and so they laughed too. All of a sudden everyone realised that for all his status in official matters, he was a man who lived alone and was loveless.” - Isobelle Carmody

32. “I heard you laughing,' Jack said. He wanted to say something about the quality of that terrible laughter, but he did not know how to begin. So he said, ' I've never heard anyone laugh like you do.” - Isobelle Carmody

33. “You must not let me out,' it warned him gently, as it saw his eyes rest on the lock.'If you release me now that I know my nature, I could not help but unmake the enchantment of the mirrors. You see, they are tame now and they show only what people want and need to see in them. The wildness of them is bound up in my form, though I did not know it for a long time. If I were uncaged, I could not help but tear at the enchantment until I was unnamed. Then I would fly into all of the mirrors and windows and into shining footpaths after rain. The mirrors would become wild and they would be absolutely, utterly truthful. Everything would be seen for what it truly was. My laughter would greet every lie and every pretense. It would rumble like a volcano under the smooth surface of everything. You can imagine the chaos it would cause here, for those who dwell in the greylands do so because the mirrors are tamed. If I were free, people would come to be afraid of them. They would cease to believe in their reflections and eventually they would no longer believe in themselves. No, laughter must remain caged here.” - Isobelle Carmody

34. “That was what happened to laughter when you caged it. It became unbearably sad. It was worse than crying.” - Isobelle Carmody

35. “If a rainbow makes a sound, or a flower as it grows, that was the sound of her laughter.” - Wm. Paul Young

36. “Inventory:"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.” - Dorothy Parker

37. “I'm at that age where I watch such things with two minds, one that cackles at these capers and another that never gets much beyond a rather jaded and self-conscious smile, like the Mona Lisa.” - Alan Bradley

38. “At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.” - Jean Houston

39. “And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

40. “Laugh now, cry later.” - Erma Bombeck

41. “Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 18 "laughter is a necessity in life that does not cost much, and the Old Ones say that one of the greatest healing powers in our life is the ability to laugh." --Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA Laughter is a good stress eliminator. Laughter causes healing powers to be distributed through our bodies. Laughter helps heal relationships that are having problems. Laughter can change other people. Laughter can heal the sick. Laughter is spiritual. One of the greatest gifts among Indian people has been our ability to laugh. Humor is natural to Indian people. Sometimes the only thing left to do is laugh. Great Spirit, allow me to laugh when times get tough.” - Larry P. Aitken

42. “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.” - Scott Westerfeld

43. “Her faith in a loving and forgiving God is strong, but she worships laughter.” - Miriam Toews

44. “With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” - William Shakespeare

45. “Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either” - Golda Meir

46. “Her laughter was an upbeat song set to a minor key.” - Ken Scholes

47. “Those are the only to verbalizations usually that we make in movies—either to scream or to laugh—because those two reactions are rather close. Most things we laugh at are things that are really horrible, when you think about them. It’s funny and you don’t scream, as long as it’s not you. If it’s somebody else you can laugh.” - Stephen King

48. “A day without laughter is like living in darkness; you try to find your way around, but you can't see clearly.” - Emily Mitchell

49. “Everyone knows how people who laugh easily create us by their laughter,--making us think of funnier and funnier things.” - Brenda Ueland

50. “The glance embroiders in joy, knits in pain, and sews in boredom.When indifferent, the eye takes stills, when interested, movies.Laughter is regional: a smile extends over the whole face.” - Malcolm de Chazal

51. “If you can't laugh, you won't make it.” - Jennifer Love Hewitt

52. “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.” - Charlotte Brontë

53. “At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.” - Jean Huston

54. “Jos joku saa sinut nauramaan, haluat varmasti tavata hänet uudestaan!” - André Wickström

55. “(La risa) es una reina que viene y va. No le pregunta a nadie, no elige los momentos adecuados (...), la Reina Risa viene a mi y me grita al oído: ¡Aquí estoy! ¡Aquí estoy!, hasta que la sangre regresa y trae a mis mejillas un poco de la luz del sol que siempre lleva consigo.” - Bram Stoker

56. “There is thin line between smile and laughter.” - Santosh Kalwar

57. “In the darkest of times, laughter helps revolutionize our perspective.” - Phil Callaway

58. “Sometimes crying or laughing are the only options left, and laughing feels better right now.” - Veronica Roth

59. “Peter was not with them for the moment, and they felt rather lonely up there by themselves. He could go so much faster than they that he would suddenly shoot out of sight, to have some adventure in which they had no share. He would come down laughing over something fearfully funny he had been saying to a star, but he had already forgotten what it was, or he would come up with mermaid scales still sticking to him, and yet not be able to to say for certain what had been happening. It was really rather irritating to children who had never seen a mermaid.” - J.M. Barrie

60. “The common denominator of all jokes is a path of expectation that is diverted by an unexpected twist necessitating a complete reinterpretation of all the previous facts — the punch-line…Reinterpretation alone is insufficient. The new model must be inconsequential. For example, a portly gentleman walking toward his car slips on a banana peel and falls. If he breaks his head and blood spills out, obviously you are not going to laugh. You are going to rush to the telephone and call an ambulance. But if he simply wipes off the goo from his face, looks around him, and then gets up, you start laughing. The reason is, I suggest, because now you know it’s inconsequential, no real harm has been done. I would argue that laughter is nature’s way of signaling that "it’s a false alarm." Why is this useful from an evolutionary standpoint? I suggest that the rhythmic staccato sound of laughter evolved to inform our kin who share our genes; don’t waste your precious resources on this situation; it’s a false alarm. Laughter is nature’s OK signal.” - V.S. Ramachandran

61. “Just thinking of your laughter gives me courage. . . ” - Rosamund Lupton

62. “No, my young apprentice. You said the exact right thing. Again. I'm just laughing at life.""Why?" he asked, opening both his eyes."Because sometimes it's either laugh or cry. I prefer laugh. How about you?” - P.C. Cast

63. “There was so much to learn and it was all fun. But the best part was getting a laugh from an audience. That was like drowning in candy.” - Hal Holbrook

64. “I could hear the chaotic laughter trailing behind me. It turned the ageless trees into a menace. They loomed around me, while hiding him. The branches tore at my skin in an effort to bind me, while weeds sought to shackle my ankles, so that I could go no further. The pain they caused was minor, when I compared it to the searing inferno at my core.” - J.D. Stroube

65. “There is one kind of laugh that I always did recommend; it looks out of the eye first with a merry twinkle, then it creeps down on its hands and knees and plays around the mouth like a pretty moth around the blaze of a candle, then it steals over into the dimples of the cheeks and rides around in those whirlpools for a while, then it lights up the whole face like the mellow bloom on a damask rose, then it swims up on the air, with a peal as clear and as happy as a dinner-bell, then it goes back again on gold tiptoes like an angel out for an airing, and it lies down on its little bed of violets in the heart where it came from.” - Josh Billings

66. “There are a lot of questions I keep asking myself about why I do comedy. I guess I laugh to keep from crying. And I guess if you ever get me crying, I might not stop. This is the way I look at tragedy or else I'll cry.” - Bob Newhart

67. “Ariel laughed and now her goose bumps had goose bumps.” - Lisa Mantchev

68. “Everyone has a sense of humor. If you don't laugh at jokes, you probably laugh at opinions.” - Criss Jami

69. “She suddenly found herself laughing without bitterness.” - L.M. Montgomery

70. “It is a splendid thing to think that the woman you really love will never grow old to you. Through the wrinkles of time, through the mask of years, if you really love her, you will always see the face you loved and won. And a woman who really loves a man does not see that he grows old; he is not decrepit to her; he does not tremble; he is not old; she always sees the same gallant gentleman who won her hand and heart. I like to think of it in that way; I like to think that love is eternal. And to love in that way and then go down the hill of life together, and as you go down, hear, perhaps, the laughter of grandchildren, while the birds of joy and love sing once more in the leafless branches of the tree of age.” - Robert Ingersoll

71. “You had to know a person well to make them laugh like that.” - Cassandra Clare

72. “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.” - Toni Morrison

73. “I knew of no instruction manual for reaching a higher level of humanity and a greater wisdom. But I felt intuitively that laughter was the beginning of wisdom, as is was indispensable for survival.” - Ingrid Betancourt

74. “Lyra had never seen such a sight, never heard such a bellow; it was like a mountain laughing.” - Philip Pullman

75. “Friends are the most important part of your life. Treasure the tears, treasure the laughter, but most importantly, treasure the memories.” - Dave Brenner

76. “I stand in the dark, start to unbutton. Then I hear something inside my body. I've broken, something has cracked, that must be it. Noise is coming up, coming out, of the broken place, in my face. Without warning: I wasn't thinking about here or there or anywhere. If I let the noise get out into the air it will be laughter, too loud, too much of it, someone is bound to hear.” - Margaret Atwood

77. “She was like a lone angel floating above the surface of the earth, laughing with delight because she could fly but crying out of loneliness.” - Markus Zusak

78. “You're not supposed to laugh at your own father. Ever.” - Jeannette Walls

79. “The Reverend William Trent, whose mind was of a serious order, had several times warned his elder sister that too lively a sense of humour frequently led to laxity of principle. She now perceived how right he was; and wondered, in dismay, whether it was because he invariably made her laugh that instead of regarding the Nonesuch with revulsion she was obliged to struggle against the impulse to cast every scruple to the winds, and to give her life into his keeping.” - Georgette Heyer

80. “Do you know, I think that of all your idiosyncrasies that choke you give, when you are determined not to laugh, is the one that most enchants me.” - Georgette Heyer

81. “When was the last time you had a good belly-shaking-tear-jerking-snot-producing laugh?That long?” - Osayi Osar-Emokpae

82. “She reflected she must be completely besotted with Peter, if his laughter could hallow an aspidistra.” - Dorothy L. Sayers

83. “We laughed together. It’s so lovely laughing with a man. It feels positive. Relaxed…” - James Lusarde

84. “Deep, hearty, clean and compassionate laughter is vitamin-tastic fuel for the soul.” - Ethel Russell-Ajisomo

85. “They say laughter is the best medicine, and I agree. Plus, it’s free, has no bad side effects and is available to EVERYONE.” - Mindy Levy

86. “Laughter separates us from despair, and gives us a chance at love.” - Craig Ferguson

87. “Parece que en los estallidos de risa lo corpóreo hiciera prevalecer y afirmar su existencia, por encima de lo racional, y esa emergencia del cuerpo tan ostentosa ha concitado el rechazo, el desdén y la amonestación. Afirmo lo anterior a partir de haber observado la recurrencia de llamados hacia la contención: reír estrepitosamente siempre ha sido visto como signo de mala educación.” - Martha Elena Munguia Zatarain

88. “There is something so attractive about a man who is able to laugh shamelessly.” - Shannon Dittemore

89. “We have to laugh. Because laughter, we already know, is the first evidence of freedom.” - Rosario Castellanos

90. “Because when you’re laughing, there is no other emotion in that moment except for joy.” - Robert Schimmel

91. “It had been the longest time since she had had a rib-scraping laugh. She had forgotten how deep and down it could be. So different from the miscellaneous giggles and smiles she had learned to be content with these past few years.” - Toni Morrison

92. “Now you are walking in Paris all alone in the crowd As herds of bellowing buses drive by Love's anguish tightens your throat As if you were never to be loved again If you lived in the old days you would enter a monasteryYou are ashamed when you discover yourself reciting a prayerYou make fun of yourself and like the fire of Hell your laughter crackles The sparks of your laugh gild the depths of your lifeIt's a painting hanging in a dark museumAnd sometimes you go and look at it close up” - Guillaume Apollinaire

93. “She laughs an honest laugh... one that puts the fakes on edge and makes them dream of being better.” - C. JoyBell C.

94. “...and when he thought about the way she laughed, as though she owned the air around her, his heart thundered inside his chest, a lonely rada.” - Junot Diaz

95. “You might as well laugh at yourself,everyone else is.” - BJ Neblett

96. “Each pain is Unbearable / yet TriflingSeeing the TRUTH is Excruciating / yet ExquisiteThrough Laugher & Tears / Grinning & Fear, we face our demons.” - jay woodman

97. “John will never forsake the weak and the helpless, nor fail to bring hope to the hopeless. That is what they believe, and so they do not worry. They go on and laugh and sing. Things are bound to come out right tomorrow. That is the secret of Negro song and laughter.” - Zora Neale Hurston

98. “It was September, and there was a crackly feeling to the air. I was saying something that was making her laugh, and I couldn't stop looking at her. It was a little bit chilly, and her cheeks were pink, and her dark hair was flowing around her face. All I wanted for the rest of my life was to keep making her laugh like that. Sometimes our arms brushed against each other as we walked, and it was like I could feel the touch for minutes after it happened.” - Carolyn Parkhurst

99. “It was tragic how life had sucked her down to the bones, all her spontaneity her laughter and freedom had vanished. I knew then that I didn't ever want to be like that. Whatever happened, life was something too precious to give up on so easily.” - Belinda Jeffrey

100. “A good artist should laugh often!” - François Place

101. “I warned you; I warned you I was the Senses Taker," sneered the Senses Taker. "I help people find what they're not looking for, hear what they're not listening for, run after what they're not chasing, and smell what isn't even there. And, furthermore," he cackled, hopping around gleefully on his stubby legs, "I'll steal your sense of purpose, take your sense of duty, destroy your sense of proportion — and, but for one thing, you'd be helpless yet.""What's that?" asked Milo fearfully."As long as you have the sound of laughter," he groaned unhappily, "I cannot take your sense of humor — and, with it, you've nothing to fear from me.” - Norton Juster

102. “My dad’s contentment is all that matters to me. When he’s laughing, I’m laughing. When he’s happy, I’m happy. I would give up my soul for him. To me, nothing else but his happiness matters.” - Rebecah McManus

103. “I'm a sucker for a man who giggles—not a high-pitched serial-killer sort of giggle, but a lighthearted laugh.” - Jancee Dunn

104. “A man who can laugh at himself is truly blessed, for he will never lack for amusement.” - James Carlos Blake

105. “It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.” - Katherine Mansfield

106. “Joy, humor, and laughter should be part of everyone's spiritual life. They are gifts from God and help us enjoy creation.” - James Martin

107. “A thousand laughing suns are in your eyes. A thousand crying stars in mine.” - احمد شاملو / Ahmad Shamlou

108. “It is the heart that is unsure of its God that is afraid to laugh.” - George MacDonald

109. “The F word turns me on, she whispered. The F word?FoodHe 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.” - Sandra Brown

110. “میرا یہ دعوی نہیں کہ ہنسنے سے سفید بال کالے ہو جاتے ہیں' اتنا ضرور ہے کہ پھر وہ اتنے بُرے معلوم نہیں ہوتے۔” - Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi

111. “The SkeletonChattering finch and water-flyAre not merrier than I;Here among the flowers I lieLaughing everlastingly.No: I may not tell the best;Surely, friends, I might have guessedDeath was but the good King's jest,It was hid so carefully.” - G.K. Chesterton

112. “The chuckle is a perfectly acceptable form of laughter.” - Timothy Hallinan

113. “Perhaps I am just a coward who loves to laugh at life better than I do cry with it. But when I do get to crying, boy, I can roll a mean tear.” - Zora Neale Hurston

114. “We broke into laughter—the kind that’s your only recourse when you feel like curling up in a fetal position and whimpering like a little girl.” - M.A. George