Lion Feuchtwanger Quotes

It is only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous.

The sublime is only a step removed from the ridiculous.

When you see things upside down, the ego can be extraordinarily funny; it's absurd. But it's tragic at the same time.

It's great extremes which leads to great drama and great comedy.

There's obviously a lot of tragedy in comedy; I really enjoy the paradox of what a really good comedy is.

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 don't think it's possible to have a sense of tragedy without having a sense of humor.

If you stretch tragedy, it will always become comedy.

There is nothing that is so serious that you can't also see its comic side. Comedy is a way of talking about the most serious things.

I think a good dollop of sadness is quite a useful thing in comedy sometimes. I think if everyone's happy all the time, it's a bit dull. It's like salt and caramel - you wouldn't imagine they would go well together, but they do.

Some things are so tragic that you don't know what's funny in it, and some things are so ridiculous you don't know if it's worth talking about it.

That's what sort of fascinates me - what's funny as well as what's sad.

Stupidity has its sublime as well as genius, and he who carries that quality to absurdity has reached it; which is always a source of amusement to sensible people.

Comedy is tragedy revisited.

It really seems to me that in the midst of great tragedy, there is always the horrible possibility that something terribly funny will happen.

What is ridiculous about human beings, Doctor,' the prince said, 'is actually their total incapacity to be ridiculous

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

Life is tragic but it's equally comic.

The best way to make the most serious point in the world is to be as unserious as possible.

I like to think my sense of humor is sort of smart and dumb at the same time. I like to work on multiple levels - smart and dumb, funny and sad, profound and mundane, cynical and hopeful.

I've always been drawn to discomfort and that limbo of unease you get between comedy and tragedy.

When you see grown men near to tears because they've missed hitting a little white ball into a hole from three feet, it makes you laugh.

Success is always less funny than failure.

Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that. Yes, yes, it's the most comical thing in the world.

He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody.