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Quotes

Jokes are grievances.

—Marshall McLuhan, 1969

A jest breaks no bones.

—Samuel Johnson, 1781

No man ever distinguished himself who could not bear to be laughed at.

—Maria Edgeworth, 1809

It is easy to distinguish between the joking that reflects good breeding and that which is coarse—the one, if aired at an apposite moment of mental relaxation, is becoming in the most serious of men, whereas the other is unworthy of any free person, if the content is indecent or the expression obscene.

—Cicero, c. 44 BC

I used to think that everyone was just being funny. But now I don’t know. I mean, how can you tell?

—Andy Warhol, 1970
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