laughter

To know how to laugh is to know how to reign.

Laugh when you can; cry when you must.

Laughter translates into any language.

The laughter of fools does more than weary the wise: it saddens them.

You tell on yourself by the friends you seek, By the very manner in which you speak, By the way you employ your leisure time, By the use you make of dollar and dime. You tell what you are by the things you wear, By the spirit in which you your burdens bear, By the kind of things at which you laugh, By the records you play on your phonograph. You tell what you are by the way you walk, By the things of which you delight to talk, By the manner in which you bear defeat, By so simple a thing as how you eat. By the books you choose from a well-filled shelf- In these ways, and more, you tell on yourself. So really there's not a grain of sense In trying to keep up a false pretense.

Take Time Take time to think- It is the source of all power. Take time to read- It is the fountain of wisdom. Take time to play- It is the source of perpetual youth. Take time to be quiet- It is the opportunity to seek God. Take time to be aware- It is the opportunity to help others. Take time to love and be loved- It is God's greatest gift. Take time to laugh- It is the music of the soul. Take time to be friendly- It is the road to happiness. Take time to dream- It is what the future is made of. Take time to pray- It is the greatest power on earth. Take time to give- It is too short a day to be selfish. Take time to work- It is the price of success. There is a time for everything. . . .

What seems to grow fairer to me as life goes by is the love and the grace and tenderness of it; not its wit and cleverness and grandeur of knowledge - grand as knowledge is - but just the laughter of children, and the friendship of friends, and the cozy talk by the fire, and sight of flowers, and the sound of music.

To laugh a bit and joke a bit And grasp a friendly hand; To love a bit and scold a bit And know they'll understand; To tell one's secrets, hopes and fears And share a friendly smile; To have a friend and be a friend Is what makes life worthwhile.

A little fish, overhearing a fisherman remark that water is essential to life, became panicky and swam desperately in search of water, until it reached the ocean and asked a wise old fish where it could find water. The old timer laughed and said, "Why, you've never been out of water. You've had water all the time, but you didn't know it." So it is with faith; you have it, it is with you. You simply have to realize and use it and it will grow.

The pleasures of love are pains that become desirable, where sweetness and torment blend, and so love is voluntary insanity, infernal paradise, and celestial hell - in short, harmony of opposite yearnings, sorrowful laughter, soft diamond.