File:NaplesFL Moorings.jpg
He appeared by some curious effect of the stained glass above the door, to be dressed in every colour of the rainbow.
Agatha Christie of The Mysterious Mr. Quin

The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself, but in so doing, he identifies himself with people — that is, people everywhere, not for the purpose of taking them apart, but simply revealing their true nature.
James Thurber

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

File:Circaflier2.jpg

"I think I'll be a clown when I get grown," said Dill. "Yes, sir, a clown.... There ain't one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so I'm gonna join the circus and laugh my head off."
"You got it backwards, Dill," said Jem. "Clowns are sad, it's folks that laugh at them."
"Well, I'm gonna be a new kind of clown. I'm gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks."
Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)


My method is to take the utmost trouble to find the right thing to say, and then to say it with the utmost levity.
George Bernard Shaw


Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right,
Here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you.
Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan of Stealers Wheel

Anything we take in the universe, because it has in itself that which is All in All, includes in its own way the entire soul of the world, which is entirely in any part of it.
Giordano Bruno

I remain just one thing, and one thing only — and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.
Charlie Chaplin

I am also Harley Quin and Mr. Quin at Wikipedia, as well as Harlequin here and elsewhere.