Laughter

Laughter

Laughing is a reaction to certain stimuli. It may ensue from hearing a joke, being tickled, or other stimuli. Most commonly, it is considered a visual expression of a number of positive emotional states, such as joy, mirth, happiness, relief, etc. However on some occasions it may express other emotions, such as embarrassment, apology or confusion ("nervous laughter)" or courtesy laugh.

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Famous quotes containing the word laughter:

    We have fallen in the dreams the Ever-living
    Breathe on the burnished mirror of the world
    And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh,
    And find their laughter sweeter to the taste
    For that brief sighing.
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    You said that my manner in that book was not serious enough—that I made people laugh in my most earnest moments. But why should I not? Why should humor and laughter be excommunicated? Suppose the world were only one of God’s jokes, would you work any the less to make it a good joke instead of a bad one?
    George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

    A withered silence filled my chest of sorrow
    With mildewed fancies till she came to me;
    My world she made of laughter and tomorrow
    A lonely sail that gemmed a wasted sea.
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)