Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury Quote

It was the saying of an ancient sage that humour was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humour. For a subject which would not bear raillery was suspicious; and a jest which would not bear a serious examination was certainly false wit.


Sensus Communis: An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour (1709), Part 1, Sec. 5


It was the saying of an ancient sage that humour was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humour. For a subject which would not bear raillery was ...

It was the saying of an ancient sage that humour was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humour. For a subject which would not bear raillery was ...

It was the saying of an ancient sage that humour was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humour. For a subject which would not bear raillery was ...

It was the saying of an ancient sage that humour was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humour. For a subject which would not bear raillery was ...