The secret to humor is surprise.

They are fond of fun and therefore witty, wit being well-bred insolence.

As, in the serious style, Homer is pre-eminent among poets, for he alone combined dramatic form with excellence of imitation, so he too first laid down the main lines of Comedy, by dramatising the ludicrous instead of writing personal satire.

and Euripides, faulty though he may be in the general management of his subject, yet is felt to be the most tragic of the poets.

He burst into one of his rare fits of laughter as he turned away from the picture. I have not heard him laugh often, and it has always boded ill to somebody.

It may have been a comedy, or it may have been a tragedy. It cost one man his reason, it cost me a blood-letting, and it cost yet another man the penalties of the law. Yet there was certainly an element of comedy. Well, you shall judge for yourselves.

You have heard me speak of Professor Moriarty?" "The famous scientific criminal, as famous among crooks as— —" "My blushes, Watson!" Holmes murmured in a deprecating voice. "I was about to say, as he is unknown to the public." "A touch! A distinct touch!" cried Holmes. "You are developing a certain unexpected vein of pawky humour, Watson, against which I must learn to guard myself.

The chief objection to playing wind instruments is that it prolongs the life of the player.

Life was never anything but a perpetual see-saw between gravity and jest.

I commend you, however, for passing the time in as merry a manner as you possibly could; it is assuredly better to go laughing than crying thro' the rough journey of life.

Life is what you make of it. There's always fun and laughs right under your nose if you're willing to open your eyes to see it.

Let pessimism once take hold of the mind, and life is all topsy-turvy, all vanity and vexation of spirit. There is no cure for individual or social disorder, except in forgetfulness and annihilation.