A Quote by Aristotle

Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.

Aristotle

Quote Topics

Bear Examination False Gravity Humor Jest Only Serious Subject Suspicious Test Which Will Wit

Quote Author

Aristotle
Greek - Philosopher
384 BC - 322 BC

Twas the saying of an ancient sage that humour was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humour. For a subject which would not bear raillery was suspicious; and a jest which would not bear a serious examination was certainly false wit.

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury

It is the saying of an ancient sage that humor was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor.

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury

Wit is artificial; humor is natural. Wit is accidental; humor is inevitable. Wit is born of conscious effort; humor, of the allotted ironies of fate. Wit can be expressed only in language; humor can be developed sufficiently in situation.

Agnes Repplier

I like telling stories with a sense of humor. But humor can also distance you from the subject you're writing about. I'm interested in using humor as a portal to something a bit more serious.

Jens Lekman

Humor and laughter are not necessarily the same thing. Humor permits us to see into life from a fresh and gracious perspective. We learn to take ourselves more lightly in the presence of good humor. Humor gives us the strength to bear what cannot be changed, and the sight to see the human under the pompous.

Joan D. Chittister

The irony or humor of my pieces is never really calculated, but they somehow always end up that way. Humor, especially when dealing with matters of extreme gravity, has a way of toppling set ideas and opening up new modes of interpretation. Furthermore, adding humor tends to shift the power balance.

Larissa Sansour

You can be only a modest distance away from the gravity brane, and gravity will be incredibly weak.

Lisa Randall

Small samples in the centrifuge will spin at varying rates to create synthetic gravity, like the gravity of Mars or the gravity of the moon, and measure how the specimens respond within the centrifuge.

John L. Phillips

Allah has tailor made the test for each and every one of us and none of us will be given something which we can't bear. I am given something that I can bear and you are given something that YOU can bear. The tests won't be the same for you and me. This is why suicide is the a great wrong because by suicide you're basically declaring, 'Oh Allah this is too much, I can't take it anymore!

Bilal Philips

Any discussion of the problems of being funny in America will not make sense unless we substitute the word wit for humor. Humor inspires sympathetic good-natured laughter and is favored by the healing-power gang. Wit goes for the jugular, not the jocular, and it's the opposite of football; instead of building character, it tears it down.

Florence King

Public opinion, I am sorry to say, will bear a great deal of nonsense. There is scarcely any absurdity so gross, whether in religion, politics, science or manners, which it will not bear.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Accustom yourself to that which you bear ill, and you will bear it well.

Seneca the Younger

Men will bear many things from a kept mistress, which they would not bear from a wife.

Samuel Richardson

To things which you bear with impatience you should accustom yourself, and, by habit you will bear them well.

Seneca the Younger

Good-humor will sometimes conquer ill-humor, but ill-humor will conquer it oftener; and for this plain reason, good-humor must operate on generosity, ill-humor on meanness.