My best advice: Fall in love with what you do for a living.
George BurnsRead
Someone who makes you laugh is a comedian. Someone who makes you think and then laugh is a humorist.
Interpretation
A comedian brings joy through laughter, but a humorist adds depth with thought before the laughter.
In this quote, George Burns distinguishes between two types of entertainers: the comedian, who primarily focuses on eliciting laughter, and the humorist, who engages the audience's intellect before delivering humor. This suggests that humor can be layered, with the humorist prompting deeper reflection, making their comedy more impactful and meaningful.
In practice
In a humorous speech about the importance of laughter in our lives.
My best advice: Fall in love with what you do for a living.
I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.
You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old.
I don't believe in dying. It's been done. I'm working on a new exit. Besides, I can't die now - I'm booked.
Retire? I'm going to stay in show business until I'm the only one left
I get up every morning and read the obituary column. If my name's not there, I eat breakfast.
Reported as Oscar Wilde's last words on his death bed... This wallpaper is killing me. One of us has to go.
When I was on TV in the '80s, I wasn't thinking, 'There's a 10-year-old kid watching this and in 15 years, he's gonna be doing stuff that was influenced by me.' I was trying to get my five minutes together. So now that those people are comedians and they're influenced by me - it's bizarre.
I was raised with "Laurel and Hardy" and "I Love Lucy" and Jerry Lewis, and I just loved it. And I had a friend in high school and we would just laugh all day and put on skits. You know, it's the Andy Kaufman thing or the Marty Short thing where you're performing in your bedroom for yourself.
I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.
What a refreshing mind you have, young man. There really is nothing quite like total ignorance, is there?
If you can't laugh when things go bad--laugh and put on a little carnival--then you're either dead or wishing you were.
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