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About this quote

What does it mean?
People who are melancholic tend to be the wittiest.
In plain terms
Sad people often have the best jokes.
What can you take from it?
Dark humor often comes from difficult experiences.

Where it applies

  • social conversation
  • writing comedy
  • personal reflection

Putting it to work

  • use humor to cope with sadness
  • value diverse perspectives

Questions to consider

  • How does mood affect humor?
  • Do you find sadness funny?

Another view

Not all melancholic people are witty.

More from Aristotle

  1. It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.

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  2. Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way... you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions…

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  3. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

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