The freedom of any society varies proportionately with the volume of its laughter.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Mostel links societal freedom directly to how much people are allowed to laugh.
- In plain terms
- The more people laugh, the freer a society is.
- What can you take from it?
- Laughter is a barometer for political freedom.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is laughter always a sign of freedom?
- How does laughter protect dissent?
Another view
Authoritarian regimes sometimes allow controlled laughter to appear free.
More from Zero Mostel
Humor is a sense of proportion and a power of seeing yourself from the outside.
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