Agnes Repplier on the Difference Between Humor and Irony

Today is the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen , the Danish poet and novelist (1805-1875) who said:

Every man's life is a fairy-tale written by God's fingers.

Enjoy life. There's plenty of time to be dead.

Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up.

In view of the fact that immense numbers of Europeans like to sneer at Americans, mock Bush (Michael Moore-style), and completely distort the image of America, it is not a bad thing to remember that yesterday was the birthday of Agnes Repplier, the American writer (1858-1950) who put humor and mockery into perspective:

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

Humor distorts nothing, and only false gods are laughed off their earthly pedestals.

One is tempted to apply the following quote to Americans and the quote following that to Europeans:

The clear-sighted do not rule the world, but they sustain and console it.

The pessimist is seldom an agitating individual. His creed breeds indifference to others, and he does not trouble himself to thrust his views upon the unconvinced.

People who cannot recognize a palpable absurdity are very much in the way of civilization.

It has been wisely said that we cannot really love anybody at whom we never laugh.

It is not what we learn in conversation that enriches us. It is the elation that comes of swift contact with tingling currents of thought.
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It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.

Maybe this helps explain why so many expats like to join in with European mockery of America:

There is always a secret irritation about a laugh into which we cannot join.