Quote: William James on Common Sense and Sense of Humor



"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing."

- William James, American psychologist and philosopher (1842 - 1910)
via Tombo’s Blog


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Posted on February 6, 2008 at 4:00 am by Alex
Category: Quote-a-Day



3 comments to "Quote: William James on Common Sense and Sense of Humor"

  • Tombo
    February 6th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    Thanks for the link!

  • Video Game Dork
    February 6th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    I beg to differ. I have a great sense of humor, but very little common sense.
    Perhaps my mind just can’t stop dancing? :P

  • Lewis
    February 6th, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    Great quote!

    Too bad, though, that it’s underlying premise has been proven to be incorrect. There is quite a large body of psychological literature on the subject of humor.

    Most humor has nothing to do with common sense. If the stated premise were true, then all those jokes on the Jewish, Polish, Mexican, gay, (on and on ad nauseam), that denigrate ‘others’ would be written into our various public documents (declaration of independence, constitution, bill of rights) and enshrined on statues in D.C.

    Sorry, slightly amusing, but entirely incorrect.

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