Try any goddam thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it. Toss it even if you love it.
Stephen KingRead
A tragedy is a tragedy, and at the bottom, all tragedies are stupid. Give me a choice and I'll take A Midsummer Night's Dream over Hamlet every time. Any fool with steady hands and a working set of lungs can build up a house of cards and then blow it down, but it takes a genius to make people laugh.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Tragedies, though impactful, often lack the sophisticated skill required to create laughter, which is a true art form.
In this quote, Stephen King contrasts tragedies with comedies, suggesting that while tragedies are inevitable and often uninspired, the ability to evoke laughter is a more significant and admirable talent. He implies that making people laugh requires greater genius and skill than simply creating dramatic or tragic narratives, highlighting the complexity and brilliance involved in humor.
Themes
TragedyComedyHumorGeniusLaughter
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of humor in stressful situations.
More from Stephen King
All quotes →Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.
Stephen KingRead
Hairstyles change, and skirt lengths, and slang, but high school administrations? Never.
Stephen KingRead
Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.
Stephen KingRead
That's the day's business. Thinking. Thinking and isolation, because it doesn't matter if you pass the time of day with someone or not; in the end, you're alone. He seemed to have put in as many miles in his brain as he had with his feet. The thoughts kept coming and there was no way to deny them.
Stephen KingRead
Late last night and the night before, tommyknockers, tommyknockers knocking on my door. I wanna go out, don't know if I can 'cuz I'm so afraid of the tommyknocker man.
Stephen KingRead
Similar quotes
I'm a lot less serious than people think, it's probably because the way my face is put together.
Alan RickmanRead
But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?
George CarlinRead
I was terrible at straight items. When I wrote obituaries, my mother said the only thing I ever got them to do was die in alphabetical order.
Erma BombeckRead
A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
The whole world is tense. Everybody gets the international news. Theres been no American comedy at all that even remotely addresses the subject in any way. My goal isnt to solve the worlds problems. My character wasnt even able to do his assignment. But the premise of wanting to find out about somebody -- other than the stuff that the CIA will tell you -- theres no hope unless we do that.
Albert BrooksRead
I have inherited my father's sense of humour about myself. It's a lot more pleasant to make fun of yourself than when someone else does.
Stephen SondheimRead