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Laugh not too much; the witty man laughs least:
For wit is news only to ignorance.
Lesse at thine own things laugh; lest in the jest
Thy person share, and the conceit advance.

— George Herbert The Temple (1633)

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More quotes by George Herbert

A verse may finde him,who a sermon flies
And turns delight into a sacrifice.

The Temple (1633)

Knowledge is folly unless grace guide it.

The worst speak something good; if all want sense,
God takes a text, and preacheth Pa-ti-ence.

The Temple (1633)

Wit's an unruly engine, wildly striking
Sometimes a friend, sometimes the engineer.

The Temple (1633)

Love your neighbor, yet pull not down your hedge.

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

All George Herbert quotes →

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Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be.

William Hazlitt Lectures on the English Comic Writers (1819)

Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.

Karl Barth The Harper Book of Quotations (1993)

Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt,
And every grin so merry draws one out.

John Wolcot

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: George Herbert (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.