Apr 12 2009
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"Laughing or crying is what a human being does when there's nothing else he can do."
- Playboy: Another way of dealing with sadness, of coming to terms with problems you can't solve, is through humor. Is that your way?
- Kurt Vonnegut: Well, I try... but laughter is a response to frustration, just as tears are, and it solves nothing, just as tears solve nothing. Laughing or crying is what a human being does when there's nothing else he can do. Freud has written very soundly on humor — which is interesting, because he was essentially a humorless man. The example he gives is of the dog who can't get through the gate to bite a person or fight another dog. So he digs dirt. It doesn't solve anything, but he has to do something. Crying or laughing is what a person does instead.
