Elizabeth Banks Quotes

I'm somebody who believes in funny things, and laughing, but I do like for them to come from a place that addresses the human condition.

The man with the real sense of humor is the man who can put himself in the spectator's place and laugh at his own misfortune.

I try to be funny and not ignorant.

When humor works, it works because it's clarifying what people already feel. It has to come from someplace real.

Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding.

Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.

Laughter is the best way to get over something or get closer to something. It's one of the things I respect most about Amy Schumer. She's found a way to get us closer to ourselves and see the ugly side of humanity, but not in a way that's pointing a finger or that's angry. She does it in a way that makes us see the absurdity and laugh at it.

Comedy is a reaction to the world, and I think it really helps to be an outsider. I've always been very interested in people's behavior, to the point of being obsessed - seeing what people needed and reading them, I think that's the backbone of comedy.

You can't be a great comedian without having self-awareness about others or your own faults. You need a strong sense of self and view on the world. That's what great actors have, too.

Knowing comedy is knowing human nature.

Humor brings insight and tolerance.

I see myself as a witness to humanity.

There are men so philosophical that they can see humor in their own toothaches. But there has never lived a man so philosophical that he could see the toothache in his own humor.

I think comedy stems from being honest, often painfully so. I hope I can achieve that perspective in my own life and also have fun.

Comedy is all about having a point of view, and it's also about power.

The more life experience you have, the more comedy you can write.

The more you find out about the world, the more opportunities there are to laugh at it.

I have such a respect for comedy. It's a lot harder than doing drama, in my opinion; you have to have sort of an innate sense of humor. There are rules to comedy you can learn. But ultimately, it really does require a certain point of view on the world, and that really does appeal to me.

I wanted to write about looking at the world, so it's more about helping people, or persuading people, to see what is around us; both the marvellous and the terrible.

I would like to think that as a result of not just my own experiences, but at least being empathetic and compassionate about other people's experiences and plights and tragedies, that I am affected by it and learn from it.

I think I knew I was funny in Elementary School. I think most funny people realize it when they're young. It tends to come out of stress or trauma - something that makes you want to be funny.

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.

Humor is the ability to see three sides to one coin.

I'm not a mean comic, I don't want to turn anybody off - I just want to give a point of view or my take on things that everyone can laugh at.

It takes intelligence to make real comedy, and it takes a reality base to create all that little stuff I like to do that makes you giggle inside.