It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.
Interpretation
Laughter and good humor are powerful forces that can spread positivity, even in the face of adversity.
This quote reveals the duality of human experiences, contrasting the negative effects of disease and sorrow with the uplifting power of laughter and joy. Dickens highlights how laughter can be contagious and has the ability to bring people together, promoting a sense of community and resilience in challenging times.
In practice
During a difficult time at work, I reminded my team that laughter can be our best remedy.
I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning.
A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away-the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us-is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs.
You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.
Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets.
He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.
A sense of humor is the main measure of sanity.
NECTAR, n. A drink served at banquets of the Olympian deities. The secret of its preparation is lost, but the modern Kentuckians believe that they come pretty near to a knowledge of its chief ingredient.
MISDEMEANOR, n. An infraction of the law having less dignity than a felony and constituting no claim to admittance into the best criminal society.
All higher humor begins with ceasing to take oneself seriously.
Don't shoot me, I'm just the piano player!
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