I always do the first line well, but I have trouble doing the others.
MoliereRead
It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh.
Interpretation
Making serious or respectable individuals laugh can be a challenging task.
Moliere's quote highlights the difficulty and complexity involved in finding humor that resonates with those who typically uphold a serious demeanor. It suggests that humor often straddles a fine line between irreverence and respect, especially when aimed at an audience that values decorum.
In practice
This quote can be used during a comedy event to illustrate the challenge of making an audience composed of serious individuals laugh.
I always do the first line well, but I have trouble doing the others.
Beauty without intelligence is like a hook without bait.
Betrayed and wronged in everything, I’ll flee this bitter world where vice is king, And seek some spot unpeopled and apart Where I’ll be free to have an honest heart. - Molière, The Misanthrope
Long is the road from conception to completion.
Oh, I may be devout, but I am human all the same.
Hypocrisy is a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtue.
'The difficulty with this conversation,' said Arthur after a sort of pondering look had crawled slowly across his face like a mountaineer negotiating a tricky outcrop, 'is that it's very different from most of the ones I've had of late. Which, as I explained, have mostly been with trees.'
What a delightful thing is the conversation of specialists! One understands absolutely nothing and it's charming.
I haven't spoken to my wife in years. I didn't want to interrupt her.
No, Groucho is not my real name. I am breaking it in for a friend.
If You Want to Send a Message, Try Western Union.
GNU, n. An animal of South Africa, which in its domesticated state resembles a horse, a buffalo and a stag. In its wild condition it is something like a thunderbolt, an earthquake and a cyclone.
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