Laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly.
Interpretation
Laughter comes from recognizing our superiority or a shift in perceptions about ourselves compared to others' weaknesses or our past failures.
In this quote, Thomas Hobbes emphasizes that laughter is a response rooted in our sense of superiority. We often find humor when we see ourselves in a better light than others or recall times when we struggled, creating a moment of joy and triumph over those comparisons. It reflects an innate human tendency to derive pleasure from understanding our own strengths in relation to perceived weaknesses.
In practice
In a speech about resilience, one could remind the audience that laughter helps us reflect on our journey and growth.
Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
For it is not the shape, but their use, that makes them angels.
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.
Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti.
The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done.
Being funny wasn't a career choice growing up, it was my way out of situations; a way to survive another day.
I have a few cavities. I don't like to call them cavities, though - I like to call them 'places to put stuff'. 'Do you know where I can store a pea' 'Yes, I have some locations available.'
Life is too short to be taken seriously.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.
Calvin: Isn't it strange that evolution would give us a sense of humor? When you think about it, it's weird that we have a physiological response to absurdity. We laugh at nonsense. We like it. We think it's funny. Don't you think it's odd that we appreciate absurdity? Why would we develop that way? How does it benefit us? Hobbes: I suppose if we couldn't laugh at things that don't make sense, we couldn't react to a lot of life.
Comedians walk out, get a feel for the crowd. If it's not going good, we change directions. If we got to drag your momma into this thing, we will. Whatever we got to do.
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