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Of all the griefs that harass the distress'd,
Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest;
Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart,
Than when a blockhead's insult points the dart.

— Samuel Johnson

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Funny

More quotes by Samuel Johnson

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed.

The Idler (1758)

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.

Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.

The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)

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

George Herbert The Temple (1633)

A tragedy can never suffer by delay: a comedy may, because the allusions or the manners represented in it maybe temporary.

Horace Walpole

The world is a comedy to those that think; a tragedy to those that feel– a solution of why Democritus laughed and Heraclitus wept.

Horace Walpole

Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.

Karl Barth The Harper Book of Quotations (1993)

Attribution

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