:the passion of laughter is nothing else but a sudden glory arising from sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmities of others, or with our own formerly:
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Laughter comes from sudden glory felt when comparing our strengths to others weaknesses or our past selves.
- In plain terms
- We laugh when we feel suddenly superior to others or our past selves.
- What can you take from it?
- Laughter often stems from feelings of superiority.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why do we laugh at others?
- Is humor always about superiority?
Another view
It overlooks laughter born of joy or surprise.
More from Thomas Hobbes
To understand this for sense it is not required that a man should be a geometrician or a logician, but that he should be mad.
Permalink to quote #2 :in the state of nature, Profit is the measure of Right.
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Permalink to quote #1
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