Quotes4study

A college joke to cure the dumps.

JONATHAN SWIFT. 1667-1745.     _Cassinus and Peter._

A joke is a very serious thing.

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill

And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke.

ALEXANDER POPE. 1688-1744.     _The Dunciad. Book ii. Line 34._

There is no worse joke than a true one.

_It. and Sp. Pr._

No doubt he was smiling. He smiled a lot, as if the world were a secret joke that only he was clever enough to understand.

George R.R. Martin

A book about a lady knight with purple eyes and a passion for justice—one of her few treasured possessions—lay near the window. So far she’d paid Amanda at the Green Inn twice to read it to her. It was that precious. With her mind made up to leave Vaneis, she packed the three dresses she owned, the scarf, the book, some herbs for soap mix, and thirty shillings for the road in her satchel. The next morning, she made sure to pay the innkeeper five shillings for her month's rent. She filled a small rucksack full of food for her journey and left the inn with a smile on her face. Once outside, Ciardis squinted, looking up and down the caravan line. There were six wagons attached to huraks – large, ponderous beasts that looked like oxen with claws. The huraks were all clearly anxious to go as they snorted and pawed the fresh snow with the three dagger-shaped claws on each foot. You and me both, friend. She clutched her two cloth bags and stared around for Lady Serena, trying not to seem too obvious. "All riders up!" rang the call down the line. Ciardis gave up her nonchalant look in favor of panic and began to search frantically. She didn't see Lady Serena anywhere. What if it had all been a cruel joke?

Terah Edun

When a woman you have cried against postcoitus tells you she’s leaving you for a man whose claim to fame is the conjoining of a soup spoon and a fork, you wait for the ringer, you wait for the joke.

Courtney Maum

It's a small joke sets men laughing when they sit a-staring at one another wi' a pipe i' their mouths.

_George Eliot._

It is — or seems to be — a wise sort of thing, to realise that all that happens to a man in this life is only by way of joke, especially his misfortunes, if he have them. And it is also worth bearing in mind, that the joke is passed round pretty liberally & impartially, so that not very many are entitled to fancy that they in particular are getting the worst of it.

Herman Melville

Life seemed to be an educator's practical joke in which you spent the first half learning and the second half learning that everything you learned in the first half was wrong.

Russell Baker

You know Anne,' he said quietly, 'when I am with a Hmong or a French or an American person, I am always the one who laughs last at a joke. I am the chameleon animal. You can place me anyplace, and I will survive, but I will not belong. I must tell you that I do not really belong anywhere.

Anne Fadiman

The scientist, like the magician, possesses secrets. A secret — expertise — is somehow perceived as antidemocratic, and therefore ought to be unnatural. We have come a long way from Prometheus to Faust to Frankenstein. And even Frankenstein's monster is now a joke.

John Leonard

With Congress, every time they make a joke it's a law, and every time they make a law it's a joke.

Will Rogers

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

At 5:00 a.m. the clubs get going properly; the Forbes stumble down from their loggias, grinning and swaying tipsily. They are all dressed the same, in expensive striped silk shirts tucked into designer jeans, all tanned and plump and glistening with money and self-satisfaction. They join the cattle on the dance floor. Everyone is wrecked by now and bounces around sweating, so fast it’s almost in slow motion. They exchange these sweet, simple glances of mutual recognition, as if the masks have come off and they’re all in on one big joke. And then you realize how equal the Forbes and the girls really are. They all clambered out of one Soviet world. The oil geyser has shot them to different financial universes, but they still understand each other perfectly. And their sweet, simple glances seem to say how amusing this whole masquerade is, that yesterday we were all living in communal flats and singing Soviet anthems and thinking Levis and powdered milk were the height of luxury, and now we’re surrounded by luxury cars and jets and sticky Prosecco. And though many westerners tell me they think Russians are obsessed with money, I think they’re wrong: the cash has come so fast, like glitter shaken in a snow globe, that it feels totally unreal, not something to hoard and save but to twirl and dance in like feathers in a pillow fight and cut like papier-mâché into different, quickly changing masks. At 5:00 a.m. the music goes faster and faster, and in the throbbing, snowing night the cattle become Forbeses and the Forbeses cattle, moving so fast now they can see the traces of themselves caught in the strobe across the dance floor. The guys and girls look at themselves and think: “Did that really happen to me? Is that me there? With all the Maybachs and rapes and gangsters and mass graves and penthouses and sparkly dresses?

Peter Pomerantsev

Hey, Tenleigh," he whispered after a while. "Yes?" "That book, The Road?" "Hmm hmm?" I murmured, remembering his bad joke, using the word "devour" in reference to a book about cannibals. I smiled sleepily. "There's this line in it that talks about keeping a little fire burning inside, 'however small, however hidden.'" "Yes," I said softly. "I think about that line sometimes. I think about how that little fire is hope. I think about how you have to keep it burning to get you through the hard times, the times that seem so painful you don't want to continue on.

Mia Sheridan

Percy wouldn't notice a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing one of Dobby's hats.

J.K. Rowling

There's an old joke... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life — full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness — and it's all over much too quickly.

Woody Allen

>Joke with a slave, and he'll soon show his heels.

_Ar. Pr._

Mit Frauen soll man sich nie unterstehn zu scherzen=--One should never venture to joke with ladies.

_Mephisto in Goethe's "Faust."_

Everything is changing. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.

Will Rogers

>Joke at your leisure; ye kenna wha may jibe yoursel'.

_Sc. Pr._

After looking at mothers-in-law and seeing sons-in-law — I always felt that the jokes were on the wrong ones. No sir, you can look through everything I ever did write or say, and you never did hear me tell a joke about any mother-in-law — or any creed, color or religion, either.

Will Rogers (born 4 November 1879

Glory and gain the industrious tribe provoke; / And gentle dulness ever loves a joke.

_Pope._

It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding.

SYDNEY SMITH. 1769-1845.     _Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 15._

episode, I’d had a sense of déjà-vu, a sense of having read this article, or one very like it, at least once before. Oh, a dead parachutist: one of those. Everyone can recognize and understand that situation. Before I’d ever heard of Vanuatans, the first joke I learnt to tell as a child was about a classified ad for a used parachute, “no strings attached.” To the anthropologist, as I explained before, it’s generic episodes and phenomena that stand out as significant, not singular ones. To the anthropologist, there’s no such thing as a singular episode, a singular phenomenon—only a set of variations on generic ones; the more generic, therefore, the more pure, the closer to an unvariegated or unscrambled archetype.

Tom McCarthy

Go away,” I say. He raises his hands in surrender and takes a step back. “This far?” “Farther.” Another step. “Better?” “Yes,” I smart. Silas grins. “I don’t know myself well, but I can tell I have a lot of game.” “Oh, please,” I say. “If you were a game, Silas, you’d be Monopoly. You just go on and on and everyone ends up cheating just to be over with it.” He’s quiet for a minute. I feel bad for saying something so awkward even if it was a joke. “You’re probably right,” he laughs. “That’s why you cheated on me with that asshat, Brian. Lucky for you, I’m not Monopoly Silas anymore. I’m Tetris Silas. All my pieces and parts are going to fit into all of your pieces and parts.

Colleen Hoover

One should never risk a joke, even of the mildest and most unexceptionable character, except among people of culture and wit.

_La Bruyere._

Never risk a joke, even the least offensive in its nature and the most common, with a person who is not well-bred, and possessed of sense to comprehend it.

_La Bruyere._

So, if any one man, in his own proper person, afford stuff for a good joke to anybody, let him not be backward, but let him cheerfully allow himself to spend and to be spent in that way.

Herman Melville

Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace The day's disasters in his morning face; Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; Full well the busy whisper circling round Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd. Yet was he kind, or if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault; The village all declar'd how much he knew, 'T was certain he could write and cipher too.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 1728-1774.     _The Deserted Village. Line 199._

My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world.

George Bernard Shaw

"There are things that are so serious that you can only joke about them"

Heisenberg

To joke in the face of danger is the supreme politeness, a delicate refusal to cast oneself as a tragic hero.

Edmond Rostand

The most effective has probably been Linux/8086 - that was a joke</p>

that got out of hand.  So far out of hand in fact its almost approaching

usability because other folks thought it worth doing - Alistair Riddoch

especially.

        -- Alan Cox

Fortune Cookie

My way of joking is to tell the truth.  That's the funniest joke in the world.

        -- Muhammad Ali

Fortune Cookie

Strange things are done to be number one

In selling the computer            The Druids were entrepreneurs,

IBM has their strategem            And they built a granite box

Which steadily grows acuter,        It tracked the moon, warned of monsoons,

And Honeywell competes like Hell,    And forecast the equinox

But the story's missing link        Their price was right, their future

Is the system old at Stonemenge sold        bright,

By the firm of Druids, Inc.        The prototype was sold;

                    From Stonehenge site their bits and byte

                    Would ship for Celtic gold.

The movers came to crate the frame;

It weighed a million ton!

The traffic folk thought it a joke&nbsp;   The man spoke true, and thus to you

(the wagon wheels just spun);        A warning from the ages;

"They'll nay sell that," the foreman    Your stock will slip if you can't ship

    spat,                What's in your brochure's pages.

"Just leave the wild weeds grow;    See if it sells without the bells

"It's Druid-kind, over-designed,    And strings that ring and quiver;

"And belly up they'll go."        Druid repute went down the chute

                    Because they couldn't deliver.

        -- Edward C. McManus, "The Computer at Stonehenge"

Fortune Cookie

The Worst Bank Robbery

    In August 1975 three men were on their way in to rob the Royal Bank of

Scotland at Rothesay, when they got stuck in the revolving doors.  They

had to be helped free by the staff and, after thanking everyone,

sheepishly left the building.

    A few minutes later they returned and announced their intention of

robbing the bank, but none of the staff believed them.  When they demanded

5,000 pounds in cash, the head cashier laughed at them, convinced that it

was a practical joke.

    Then one of the men jumped over the counter, but fell to the floor

clutching his ankle.  The other two tried to make their getaway, but got

trapped in the revolving doors again.

Fortune Cookie

If life is merely a joke, the question still remains: for whose amusement?

Fortune Cookie

The fellow sat down at a bar, ordered a drink and asked the bartender if he

wanted to hear a dumb-jock joke.

    "Hey, buddy," the bartender replied, "you see those two guys next to

you?  They used to be with the Chicago Bears.  The two dudes behind you made

the U.S. Olympic wrestling team.  And for your information, I used to play

center at Notre Dame."

    "Forget it," the customer said.  "I don't want to explain it five

times."

Fortune Cookie

I Know A Joke!!

Fortune Cookie

Q:    How many mathematicians does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A:    One.  He gives it to six Californians, thereby reducing the problem

    to the earlier joke.

Fortune Cookie

    "Well, it's garish, ugly, and derelicts have used it for a toilet.

The rides are dilapidated to the point of being lethal, and could easily

maim or kill innocent little children."

    "Oh, so you don't like it?"

    "Don't like it?  I'm CRAZY for it."

        -- The Killing Joke</p>

Fortune Cookie

A rose is a rose is a rose.  Just ask Jean Marsh, known to millions of

PBS viewers in the '70s as Rose, the maid on the LWT export "Upstairs,

Downstairs."  Though Marsh has since gone on to other projects, ... it's

with Rose she's forever identified.  So much so that she even likes to

>joke about having one named after her, a distinction not without its

drawbacks.  "I was very flattered when I heard about it, but when I looked

up the official description, it said, `Jean Marsh: pale peach, not very

good in beds; better up against a wall.'  I want to tell you that's not

true.  I'm very good in beds as well."

Fortune Cookie

< asuffield> fibre in the US is such a joke. in the civilized parts of

             the world, DSL *starts* at the speeds where US fibre lets off

< joshk> asuffield: australia is a nation full of savages?

< asuffield> joshk: they've got about one 9600 modem between the whole

             damn country

        -- in #debian-devel

Fortune Cookie

He who laughs last usually had to have joke explained.

Fortune Cookie

He laughs at every joke three times... once when it's told, once when

it's explained, and once when he understands it.

Fortune Cookie

When the saleman's car broke down, he walked to the nearest farmhouse to ask

if he could stay the night.  The farmer agreed to put him up.  "I live alone,"

he continued, "you can have the bedroom at the top of the stairs, to the

right."

    "Oh, never mind," the disappointed salesman said. "I think I'm in

the wrong joke."

Fortune Cookie

The aim of a joke is not to degrade the human being but to remind him that

he is already degraded.

        -- George Orwell

Fortune Cookie

The Worst Car Hire Service

    When David Schwartz left university in 1972, he set up Rent-a-wreck

as a joke.  Being a natural prankster, he acquired a fleet of beat-up

shabby, wreckages waiting for the scrap heap in California.

    He put on a cap and looked forward to watching people's faces as he

conducted them round the choice of bumperless, dented junkmobiles.

    To his lasting surprise there was an insatiable demand for them and

he now has 26 thriving branches all over America.  "People like driving

round in the worst cars available," he said.  Of course they do.

    "If a driver damages the side of a car and is honest enough to

admit it, I tell him, `Forget it'.  If they bring a car back late we

overlook it.  If they've had a crash and it doesn't involve another vehicle

we might overlook that too."

    "Where's the ashtray?" asked one Los Angeles wife, as she settled

into the ripped interior.  "Honey," said her husband, "the whole car's the

ash tray."

        -- Stephen Pile, "The Book of Heroic Failures"

Fortune Cookie

"There are things that are so serious that you can only joke about them"

        -- Heisenberg

Fortune Cookie

HARVARD:

Quarterback:

    Sophomore Dave Strewzinski... likes to pass.  And pass he does, with

a record 86 attempts (three completions) in 87 plays....  Though Strewzinksi

has so far failed to score any points for the Crimson, his jackrabbit speed

has made him the least sacked quarterback in the Ivy league.

Wide Receiver:

    The other directional signal in Harvard's offensive machine is senior

Phil Yip, who is very fast.  Yip is so fast that he has set a record for being

fast.  Expect to see Yip elude all pursuers and make it into the endzone five

or six times, his average for a game.  Yip, nicknamed "fumblefingers" and "you

asshole" by his teammates, hopes to carry the ball with him at least one of

those times.

YALE:

Defense:

    On the defensive side, Yale boasts the stingiest line in the Ivies.

Primarily responsible are seniors Izzy "Shylock" Bloomberg and Myron

Finklestein, the tightest ends in recent Eli history.  Also contributing to

the powerful defense is junior tackle Angus MacWhirter, a Scotsman who rounds

out the offensive ethnic joke.  Look for these three to shut down the opening

coin toss.

        -- Harvard Lampoon 1988 Program Parody, distributed at The Game

Fortune Cookie

If you think before you speak the other guy gets his joke in first.

Fortune Cookie

It was a JOKE!!  Get it??  I was receiving messages from DAVID LETTERMAN!!

YOW!!

Fortune Cookie

"Good afternoon, madam.  How may I help you?"

"Good afternoon.  I'd like a FrintArms HandCannon, please."

"A--?  Oh, now, that's an awfully big gun for such a lovely lady.  I

mean, not everybody thinks ladies should carry guns at all, though I

say they have a right to.  But I think... I might... Let's have a look

down here.  I might have just the thing for you.  Yes, here we are!

Look at that, isn't it neat?  Now that is a FrintArms product as well,

but it's what's called a laser -- a light-pistol some people call

them.  Very small, as you see; fits easily into a pocket or bag; won't

spoil the line of a jacket; and you won't feel you're lugging half a

tonne of iron around with you.  We do a range of matching accessories,

including -- if I may say so -- a rather saucy garter holster.  Wish I

got to do the fitting for that!  Ha -- just my little joke.  And

there's *even*... here we are -- this special presentation pack: gun,

charged battery, charging unit, beautiful glider-hide shoulder holster

with adjustable fitting and contrast stitching, and a discount on your

next battery.  Full instructions, of course, and a voucher for free

lessons at your local gun club or range.  Or there's the *special*

presentation pack; it has all the other one's got but with *two*

charged batteries and a night-sight, too.  Here, feel that -- don't

worry, it's a dummy battery -- isn't it neat?  Feel how light it is?

Smooth, see?  No bits to stick out and catch on your clothes, *and*

beautifully balanced.  And of course the beauty of a laser is, there's

no recoil.  Because it's shooting light, you see?  Beautiful gun,

beautiful gun; my wife has one.  Really.  That's not a line, she

really has.  Now, I can do you that one -- with a battery and a free

charge -- for ninety-five; or the presentation pack on a special

offer for one-nineteen; or this, the special presentation pack, for

one-forty-nine."

"I'll take the special."

"Sound choice, madam, *sound* choice.  Now, do--?"

"And a HandCannon, with the eighty-mill silencer, five GP clips, three

six-five AP/wire-fl'echettes clips, two bipropellant HE clips, and a

Special Projectile Pack if you have one -- the one with the embedding

rounds, not the signalers.  I assume the night-sight on this toy is

compatible?"

"Aah... yes,  And how does madam wish to pay?"

She slapped her credit card on the counter.  "Eventually."

        -- Iain M. Banks, "Against a Dark Background"

Fortune Cookie

Where's the Coke machine?  Tell me a joke!!

Fortune Cookie

When I think about myself,

I almost laugh myself to death,

My life has been one great big joke,    Sixty years in these folks' world

A dance that's walked            The child I works for calls me girl

A song that's spoke,            I say "Yes ma'am" for working's sake.

I laugh so hard I almost choke        Too proud to bend

When I think about myself.        Too poor to break,

                    I laugh until my stomach ache,

                    When I think about myself.

My folks can make me split my side,

I laughed so hard I nearly died,

The tales they tell, sound just like lying,

They grow the fruit,

But eat the rind,

I laugh until I start to crying,

When I think about my folks.

        -- Maya Angelou

Fortune Cookie

You may easily play a joke on a man who likes to argue -- agree with him.

        -- Ed Howe

Fortune Cookie

He who laughs last didn't get the joke.

Fortune Cookie

Man 1:    Ask me the what the most important thing about telling a good joke is.

Man 2:    OK, what is the most impo --

Man 1:    ______TIMING!

Fortune Cookie

X windows:

    The ultimate bottleneck.

    Flawed beyond belief.

    The only thing you have to fear.

    Somewhere between chaos and insanity.

    On autopilot to oblivion.

    The joke that kills.

    A disgrace you can be proud of.

    A mistake carried out to perfection.

    Belongs more to the problem set than the solution set.

    To err is X windows.

    Ignorance is our most important resource.

    Complex nonsolutions to simple nonproblems.

    Built to fall apart.

    Nullifying centuries of progress.

    Falling to new depths of inefficiency.

    The last thing you need.

    The defacto substandard.

Elevating brain damage to an art form.

    X windows.

Fortune Cookie

Rebellion Postponement:

    The tendency in one's youth to avoid traditionally youthful

activities and artistic experiences in order to obtain serious career

experience.  Sometimes results in the mourning for lost youth at about

age thirty, followed by silly haircuts and expensive joke-inducing

wardrobes.

        -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated

           Culture"

Fortune Cookie

Index: