Top Ten Tuesday: Humorous Quotes from Books


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A woman with black hair who is wearing a blue scarf and a blue shirt. She is laughing and looks perfectly joyful.

One of the happiest stock photos I’ve seen in ages!

Yes, I’ve blogged about humorous quotes from books before. It’s one of those evergreen topics that I think can and should be returned to whenever you’re in need of a pick-me-up.

I don’t know about all of you, but after the the last two years I am definitely needing reasons to laugh and lighthearted things to think about.

Here are some humorous quotes from books that do just that for me. I hope they have the same effect on everyone who reads this.

 

“The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

 

 

“Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like.”
Lemony Snicket

 

 

“Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying ‘End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH’, the paint wouldn’t even have time to dry.”
Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

 

“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

 

 

“I don’t want tea,” said Clary, with muffled force. “I want to find my mother. And then I want to find out who took her in the first place, and I want to kill them.”
“Unfortunately,” said Hodge, “we’re all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it’s either tea or nothing.”
Cassandra Clare, City of Bones

 

 

A red flower with a yellow smiley face button sitting in the middle of it. “No sight so sad as that of a naughty child,” he began, “especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death?”

“They go to hell,” was my ready and orthodox answer.

“And what is hell? Can you tell me that?”

“A pit full of fire.”

“And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?”

“No, sir.”

“What must you do to avoid it?”

I deliberated a moment: my answer, when it did come was objectionable: “I must keep in good health and not die.”
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

 

 

“Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.”
Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s Fear

 

 

“It’s not like there’s a law against flying.”

“Yes there is. The law of gravity.”
Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone

 

 

A sign shaped like the word “Joy.” It is covered in about 16 glowing white lights. “She’s the sort of woman who lives for others – you can tell the others by their hunted expression.”
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

 

 

“If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.”
George Bernard Shaw, Immaturity

 

 

I hope this post brought a little joy to all of your lives!

79 Comments

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79 Responses to Top Ten Tuesday: Humorous Quotes from Books

  1. Love the C S Lewis quote! Some ‘helpful’ people can be so unbearable!

  2. Hi Lydia! Yes, we sure can all benefit from a smile and no better than getting a smile from a few excellent reads. Great choices today!

    Happy TTT!

    Elza Reads

  3. Great quotes! Pratchett has written some of my very favourites. I love the way he effortlessly balances the humorous and the profound.

  4. The Douglas Adams quote is probably one of the best quotes! It’s honest and funny at the same time.

    Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
    https://readbakecreate.com/10-most-recent-additions-to-my-physical-tbr/

  5. Who knew that Jane Eyre was so humorous?! I love it and all of the other quotes you shared. I needed this today.

  6. I loved the humorous quotes you picked.

  7. Poinsettia

    These quotes are a lot of fun! I especially like the one from The Hobbit. 🙂

  8. That Lemony Snicket quote is my favorite, you’ve got a great list here!

  9. Mission accomplished: you definitely had me laughing with a lot of these quotes! Many of them are still on my TBR as well so these quotes definitely make me want to pick them up sooner than later 😃 Thanks for the laughs today!

  10. That Jane Eyre quote has always tickled me. What a precocious child!

  11. I enjoyed those quotes. I decided to go for quotes that made me smile too!

    Have a great week!

    Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
    My post:
    https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2022/05/24/top-ten-tuesday-book-quote-freebie-quotes-that-made-me-smile/

  12. Jo

    Ah such a lovely choice for this week’s theme, so many made me laugh.

  13. I needed a good laugh this morning. Some great quotes.

  14. The one about fate and the restaurant cracks me up!

  15. Great list. I love a good humorous quote and you have picked a few great ones.

    Here is my TTT post: https://herseriallife.com/top-10-badass-quotes-to-inspire-keep-fight/

    Have a great week 🙂

  16. I totally agree with you, Lydia, that we all need something to laugh, now more than ever. So thanks for all these quotes.

    And thanks for visiting my TTT this week which is about lighthouses.

  17. These quotes are so much fun. I especially liked “It’s not like there’s a law against flying.”

    “Yes there is. The law of gravity.”
    ― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone”

  18. I loved these. They made me laugh and smile. My favorites were the first two. 🙂

  19. Anita@seriesbooklover

    Great quotes, You can’t been Douglas Adams

  20. City of Bones and Daughter of Smoke and Bone are good ones!! Love the humor take because we all need it. <3

  21. I agree, after the last two years, I am even trying to read more books with humor in them. Thanks for sharing.

  22. A lovely list of quotes! I’ve always liked Gandalf’s “A Wizard is never late…”!
    These are my quotes – hope the font is legible…

  23. That Doug Adams one makes me want to go and read those books. 🙂

  24. Thank you for these. They brought a smirk to my face.

  25. Oh goodness, so many lovely chuckles in this one ^.^ I feel like I’ve been waiting an eternity to finish Rothfuss’ series. I want to reread it because it was so good, but then I’ll just be frustrated again at waiting as I remember how good it is. xD

  26. This was an excellent topic choice, these quotes are great. The Hobbit one always makes me chuckle.

  27. I a
    Ways love a Tolkien quod! Great post!

  28. Oh my goodness! My above comment appears garbled! Sorry about that! 😱😱😱

  29. These really made me smile! What a great choice of theme–I agree, we all could do with more like these!

  30. My favorite: “She’s the sort of woman who lives for others – you can tell the others by their hunted expression.”
    ― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

  31. These are great! I always love seeing humor in books.

  32. We *love* the sass from Jane Eyre in that conversation.

    Thanks a bunch for visiting Finding Wonderland this week!

  33. That is a happy stock photo!

  34. These are great! I love the Adams and Pratchett quotes, but the Tolkien one was especially apt for me since I’m re-reading The Hobbit right now and made note of that quote when I cam across it in the text. 🙂

  35. I love this “evergreen” topic and, I agree, it should be emphasized more often. Pick-me-ups are so needed in this world that is so harsh and awful sometimes. The Lemony Snicket quote especially made me laugh because it’s just so apt!

    Happy TTT!

    Susan
    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

  36. Great quotes, especially the Lemony Snicket and City of Bones ones! 🙂

  37. These are great! That Douglas Adams quote makes me laugh every time

  38. Great choices, all of these made me smile 🙂

  39. I love these quotes! My favourite is from Jane Eyre. Great choices, Lydia 🙂

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