Hazlitt, William -- Lectures on the English Comic Writers, Lecture 1 “On Wit and Humour” (1819)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be.

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
Lectures on the English Comic Writers, Lecture 1 “On Wit and Humour” (1819)
(Source)

Sometimes altered to end "... and what they might have been."

WIST Quotations

Hazlitt, William -- Lectures on the English Comic Writers, Lecture 1 “On Wit and Humour” (1819)