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

Some things are privileged from jest—namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, all men’s present business of importance, and any case that deserves pity.

Jesters do oft prove prophets.

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.

He who laugheth too much, hath the nature of a fool; he that laugheth not at all, hath the nature of an old cat.