A truly comic, invented world must live at the same time as the world we live in.

The things we laugh at are awful while they are going on, but get funny when we look back. And other people laugh because they've been through it too. The closest thing to humor is tragedy.

The secret source of humor is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.

Pleasantry is never good on serious points, because it always regards subjects in that point of view in which it is not the purpose to consider them.

Anyone who is considered funny will tell you, sometimes without your even asking, that deep inside they are very serious, neurotic, introspective people.

Humour is the first of the gifts to perish in a foreign tongue.

Rest and laughter are the most spiritual and subversive acts of all.

Humor is how you change people's opinions, and if you can make someone laugh, they'll listen, even if they hate you.

I once asked Eric Morecambe what funny is. 'Wrong question,' he said. 'Just laugh.'

Laugh? I nearly bought my own beer.