Mirth Quotes

• Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

  Joseph Addison

  Clouds, Break Through, Serenity

  'The Spectator' no. 381, 17 May 1712

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• Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. Grim care, moroseness, anxiety,--all this rust of life, ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth. It is better than emery. Every man ought to rub himself with it. A man without mirth is like a wagon without springs, in which one is caused disagreeably to jolt by every pebble over which it runs.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Running, Spring, Men

  Henry Ward Beecher (1862). “Royal truths”, p.241

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• Christmas is more than a time of music, merriment and mirth; it is a season of meditation, mangers and miracles. Christmas is more than a time of carols, cards and candy; it is a season of dedication and decision.

  William Arthur Ward

  Christmas, Dedication, Meditation

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• Mirth cannot move a soul in agony.

  William Shakespeare

  Moving, Agony, Soul

  1594-5 Biron. Love's Labour's Lost, act 5, sc.2, l.843.

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• Frame your mind to mirth and merriment which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.

  William Shakespeare

  Wine, Mind, Bars

  1593 Messenger to Sly.TheTaming of the Shrew, Induction 2, l.131-2.

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• Now the bright morning-star, Day's harbinger,
  Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
  The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
  The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
  Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire
  Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
  Woods and groves are of thy dressing;
  Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.
  Thus we salute thee with our early song,
  And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

  John Milton

  Song, Morning, Stars

  John Milton (1859). “The poems of John Milton”, p.43

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• I never get any protests from children. All you get are giggles of mirth and squirms of delight. I know what children like.

  Roald Dahl

  Children, Delight, Protest

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• With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.

  William Shakespeare

  Birthday, Happiness, Being Happy

  1596-7 Graziano toAntonio.TheMerchant ofVenice, act1, sc.1, l.79-80.

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• The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.

  Samuel Johnson

  Happiness, Laughter, Men

  "Johnsoniana, Or, Supplement to Boswell: Being Anecdotes and Sayings of Dr. Johnson".

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• The Angel that presided o'er my birth Said, 'Little creature, formed of joy and mirth, Go love without the help of any thing on earth'.

  William Blake

  Love, Angel, Joy

  William Blake (1899). “William Blake: XVII Designs to Thornton's Virgil, Reproduced from the Original Woodcuts, MDCCCXXI.”

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• Bards of Passion and of Mirth, Ye have left your souls on earth! Have ye souls in heaven too, Double-lived in regions new?

  John Keats

  Passion, Heaven, Soul

  'Bards of Passion and of Mirth' (1820)

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• Now the bright morning-star, day's harbinger, comes dancing from the east.

  John Milton

  Morning, Stars, Dancing

  John Milton, Henry John Todd (1826). “The poetical works of John Milton: With notes of various authors”, p.66

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• But like of each thing that in season grows.

  William Shakespeare

  Christmas, Xmas, Grows

  'Love's Labour's Lost' (1595) act 1, sc. 1, l. 105

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• There is nothing like fun, is there? I haven't any myself, but I do like it in others.

  Thomas Chandler Haliburton

  Fun, Enjoyment, Havens

  Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1855). “Nature and Human Nature”, p.56, New York : Stringer and Townsend

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• Half the trouble in life is caused by pretending there isn't any.

  Edith Wharton

  Half, Life Is, Trouble

  Edith Wharton (2013). “House of Mirth and the Age of Innocence”, p.210, Simon and Schuster

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• She had no tolerance for scenes which were not of her own making.

  Edith Wharton

  Tolerance, Scene

  Edith Wharton (2015). “The House of Mirth”, p.32, Xist Publishing

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• There are flood and drought over the eyes and in the mouth, dead water and dead sand contending for the upper hand. The parched eviscerate soil gapes at the vanity of toil, laughs without mirth. This is the death of the earth.

  T. S. Eliot

  Death, Eye, Hands

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• As Tammie glow'red, amazed and curious, The mirth and fun grew fast and furious.

  Robert Burns

  Fun, Curiosity, Red

  "Tam o' Shanter" l. 143 (1791)

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• He hath a heart as sound as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; for what his heart thinks his tongue speaks.

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Thinking, Sound

  'Much Ado About Nothing' (1598-9) act 3, sc. 2, l. [12]

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• God sent his Singers upon earth
  With songs of sadness and of mirth,
  That they might touch the hearts of men,
  And bring them back to heaven again.

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Song, Heart, Sadness

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1871). “The Poetical Works”, p.138

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• With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come. And let my liver rather heat with wine, than my heart cool with mortifying groans.

  William Shakespeare

  Laughter, Heart, Wine

  William Shakespeare, Joseph Dennie, Samuel Johnson, George Steevens (1805). “The plays of William Shakespeare ...: With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators”, p.315

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• To move wild laughter in the throat of death? It cannot be; it is impossible: Mirth cannot move a soul in agony.

  William Shakespeare

  Laughter, Moving, Agony

  William Shakespeare (2012). “Comedies of Shakespeare in Plain and Simple English (a Modern Translation and the Original Version)”, p.1633, BookCaps Study Guides

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• An ounce of mirth is worth a pound of sorrow.

  Richard Baxter

  Sorrow, Pounds, Merriment

  Richard Baxter, William Orme (1830). “The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter: With a Life of the Author, and a Critical Examination of His Writings”, p.376

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• She was so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her, that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate.

  Edith Wharton

  Fate, Civilization, Links

  Edith Wharton (2015). “The House of Mirth”, p.8, Xist Publishing

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• Mirthfulness is in the mind and you cannot get it out. It is just as good in its place as conscience or veneration.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Mind, Veneration, Conscience

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.74

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