People that make puns are like wanton boys that put coppers on the railroad tracks.
Funny Quotes
Funny is a tone rather than a subject, and the older writers do better in it than you might expect. Shakespeare has the most entries, followed by Alexander Pope, with Swift, Thomas Fuller and Will Rogers not far behind. Some of the oldest jokes here are still the best: the critic John Dennis, quoted in a magazine in 1781, said that a man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket.
There is also some more recent material. Jon Stewart’s remark about comedy being tragedy plus time, from The Daily Show in 1999, is here with its language intact. Two lines are flagged as misattributed: Pope’s couplet about knocking on a head with nobody at home, and the one about jesters proving prophets, credited to Joseph Addison.
Satire, by being levelled at all, is never resented for an offence by any.
His wit invites you by his looks to come,
But when you knock it never is at home.
Whose wit in the combat, as gentle as bright,
Ne'er carried a heart-stain away on its blade.
He that will lose his friend for a jest, deserves to die a beggar by the bargain.