A Quote by Van Wyck Brooks

Earnest people are often people who habitually look on the serious side of things that have no serious side.

Van Wyck Brooks

Quote Topics

Earnest Look Often People Serious Side Things

Quote Author

Van Wyck Brooks
American - Critic
February 16, 1886 - May 2, 1963

There is nothing that is so serious that you can't also see its comic side. Comedy is a way of talking about the most serious things.

Edward Zwick

I've never been in the position where that conversation is a serious conversation before the movie even comes out. On one side of it, that's so great because you've got such great potential. The other side of that is that there's a level of pressure. Now, that clearly means that there's an expectation level, from the studio side, potentially from the audience's side, and from our side.

Will Packer

I've done a lot of serious roles, but they're, like, independent, so it's harder for them to come out. The big ones have been comedies, but I would love to get a big drama to let people see the other side of me, that I am a serious actress.

Tara Reid

Laurence Olivier said in an interview once that when he plays a tragedy he always aims for the funny parts, and the other way around. Because in a comedy you look for what's serious. I think that's true. Sometimes things are really funny if you're absolutely earnest. If you're really serious, it's hilarious.

Christopher Walken

I come across as a very serious and mature girl but there is also a mad and funny side to me which I hope the house is comfortable enough that it comes out naturally. The thing is this side of me is only known to people I am comfortable with.

Neha Pendse

There's a side of my personality that goes completely against the educated & serious woman. The side who wants to be a pin-up girl in garages all across America!

Mira Sorvino

I suppose that Heartland, Unknown Soldier and Pride and Joy represent not a quieter side but more of a serious side to my work, something I've been getting into recently.

Garth Ennis

Serious journalists often imagine society is adrift because people don't know certain things. Yet often, they know but just don't care. So the task of serious journalism isn't just to lay out truths. It is to make vital truths compelling to a big audience.

Alain de Botton

Maori get pigeonholed into the idea they're spiritual and telling stories like 'Whale Rider' and 'Once Were Warriors,' quite serious stuff, but we're pretty funny people, and we never really have had an opportunity to show that side of ourselves, the clumsy, nerdy side of ourselves, which is something I am.

Taika Waititi

Our friends on the other side decided early on they didn't want to engage with us in a serious way, a serious way to help those suffering under Obamacare.

Mitch McConnell

The White House is a serious place, with serious people, doing serious work. If you're not careful, it can grind you down.

Jill Biden

These are very serious times, and serious people need to be doing some serious thinking.

Marianne Williamson

I have a fun side and a serious side.

Roy Choi

I just always wrote songs as a side hobby. So it was sort of a natural thing to write comedy songs. But when I started writing songs, I wrote very serious songs. Or things that a 13-14 year-old would think are very serious issues.