Eric Idle Quotes

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.

Nobody's life is a bed of roses. We all have crosses to bear, and we all just do our best. I would never claim to have the worst situation. There are many widows, and many people dying of AIDS, many people killed in Lebanon, people starving all over the planet. So we have to count our lucky stars.

A good thing to remember is somebody's got it a lot worse than we do.

Always have a sense of humor about life - you'll need it - but always be courteous to boot.

Often people write stories about people who are suffering, and they're miserable all the time. That's not the case. You go to the food bank or wherever and there's laughter, there's comedy, there's stupidity, there's silliness and warmth. And that's the reality of people's lives. If you cut out that sense of humor and warmth, you miss the point.

Misery is the stuff of comedy, if one can just live long enough to get over it.

We're all human beings, and we all have the same problems. I do remember how blessed I am, and no matter how bad things are, they can always get worse.

Am I old-fashioned? I think I might be. I am a lucky woman, because I was born with a priceless gift... the ability to laugh at the misfortunes of others.

My dad would always say, 'What can you do to make the world a better place?' Well, I can make people laugh.

There's always going to be somebody worse off than me.

Humor reminds you, when you're flattened by sorrow, that you're still human.

No matter how bad you think you have it, there's always - always somebody who's got it way, way worse.

I love New York. I was sad, depressed and incredibly moved by our fellow countrymen and what they've done. I wanted to give people a chance to see something funny, have a distraction.

When you're not involved, other people's unhappiness seems to be about the funniest damn thing on earth because you think you can solve it, that you are God, that you are above this, and that their unhappiness is just such useless toil and agony. If it's you, it ceases to be a comedy.

Life is a song - sing it. Life is a game - play it. Life is a challenge - meet it. Life is a dream - realize it. Life is a sacrifice - offer it. Life is love - enjoy it.

It is a good thing that life is not as serious as it seems to a waiter.

My comedy comes from pain. I can't stand to see someone hurting.

If we could all just laugh at ourselves, in hard times or good times, it would be an incredible world.

I think of myself as quite a confused kind of person, because I think there's so many great things about the world, but there are so many awful things too. I feel very guilty a lot of the time about enjoying my life so much when there are people living in such misery.

In life, comedy occurs naturally, as it should, in the most appalling of circumstances.

Everything's very perfectly balanced; for all the horrible things in the world there's lots of good things.

Life is dramatic and comedic at times. Sometimes in the most dramatic situations, there is comedy. And good comedy comes from a sense of reality.

I have nothing but love in my heart and everything I say is just an instrument for laughs.

The countries with the greatest problems have the kindest people.

Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.