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Quotes

Wit enables us to act rudely with impunity.

—La Rochefoucauld, 1678

Laughter always arises from a gaiety of disposition, absolutely incompatible with contempt and indignation.

—Voltaire, 1736

A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.

—George Eliot, 1876

A joke is at most a temporary rebellion against virtue, and its aim is not to degrade the human being but to remind him that he is already degraded.

—George Orwell, 1945

A jest breaks no bones.

—Samuel Johnson, 1781
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