If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
James ThurberRead
The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those of libel.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Comedy is bound only by good taste and legal boundaries.
In this quote, James Thurber suggests that comedy, as an art form, should have a free range of expression, constrained only by the limits of good taste and the laws regarding libel. It highlights the importance of creativity and the subjective nature of humor while acknowledging that there are still some boundaries that cannot be crossed without consequence.
Themes
ComedyTasteLibelCreativityHumor
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of freedom of expression in the arts.
More from James Thurber
All quotes βSpeed is scarcely the noblest virtue of graphic composition, but it has its curious rewards. There is a sense of getting somewhere fast, which satisfies a native American urge.
James ThurberRead
The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal.
James ThurberRead
Things have dropped from me. I have outlived certain desires; I have lost friends, some by death... others through sheer inability to cross the street.
James ThurberRead
The appreciative smile, the chuckle, the soundless mirth, so important to the success of comedy, cannot be understood unless one sits among the audience and feels the warmth created by the quality of laughter that the audience takes home with it.
James ThurberRead
Unless artists can remember what it was to be a little boy, they are only half complete as artist and as man.
James ThurberRead
Similar quotes
It seems like once people grow up, they have no idea what's cool.
Bill WattersonRead
SIREN, n. One of several musical prodigies famous for a vain attempt to dissuade Odysseus from a life on the ocean wave. Figuratively, any lady of splendid promise, dissembled purpose and disappointing performance.
Ambrose BierceRead
Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain.
Charlie ChaplinRead
Any man who eats dessert is not drinking enough.
Ernest HemingwayRead
You know what male comics can't do? They can't get pregnant. They can't perform pregnant. So my attitude is, just use all those differences.
Ali WongRead
Negative humor is forgotten immediately. It's the stuff that makes us feel better about our lives that lives long. Much more satisfying. Enter children's books.
Berkeley BreathedRead