CURATED COLLECTION

Not Taking Life Too Seriously

The philosophers who laughed at existence were not avoiding it — they were engaging with it more honestly than most.

82 quotes found

“
The report of my death was an exaggeration.

—Mark TwainNovelist & Humorist

Industrial Age ERA • North America

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I can resist everything except temptation.

—Oscar WildePlaywright & Poet

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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A tailor without a needle is like a general without a sword.

—Sholem AleichemAuthor

Early Modern ERA • Eastern Europe

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The future is uncertain. Eat your soup while it's hot.

—Nasreddin HodjaPhilosopher & Satirist

Medieval ERA • MENA

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Humor is a way of not becoming the prisoner of your own ideas.

—Rosario CastellanosPoet, Novelist & Diplomat

Post-War ERA • Latin America

“
I lost my key inside the house, but I'm looking for it here because there's light.

—Nasreddin HodjaPhilosopher & Satirist

Medieval ERA • MENA

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Wine is a mirror, and one's face is reflected in it.

—AnacreonLyric Poet

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

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Everything beautiful is also slightly absurd, like the world itself.

—Bohumil HrabalWriter & King

Post-War ERA • Eastern Europe

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If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything.

—Marilyn MonroeActress

Early Modern ERA • North America

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Football is the only religion that truly doesn't disappoint its fervent believers.

—Juan VilloroNovelist, Journalist & Essayist

Contemporary ERA • Latin America

“
Go to heaven for the climate, hell for the company.

—Mark TwainNovelist & Humorist

Industrial Age ERA • North America

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A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

—Roald DahlNovelist

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

—Jane AustenNovelist

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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Kings and philosophers defecate, and so do ladies.

—Michel de MontaignePhilosopher & Writer

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

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My mouth is a mango. My tongue is a ripe plum.

—Grace NicholsPoet

Late Modern ERA • Caribbean

“
Common sense is not so common.

—VoltaireWriter, Historian & Philosopher

Enlightenment ERA • Western Europe

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An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.

—Aldous HuxleyWriter & Philosopher

Early Modern ERA • Western Europe

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It is the height of wisdom to pretend to be a fool.

—Desiderius ErasmusScholar

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

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Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.

—Margaret MeadCultural Anthropologist

Post-War ERA • North America

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Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

—Oscar WildePlaywright & Poet

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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