April Fools' Day

annual celebration commemorated on April 1 by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes
(Redirected from All Fools Day)

April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness. The day is marked by the commission of good-humoured or otherwise funny jokes, hoaxes, and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, teachers, neighbors, work associates, etc.

The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year. ~ Mark Twain

Quotes

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Alphabetized by author or source
  • When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
    • Otto von Bismarck (born 1 April 1815), as quoted in American Speaker : Your Guide to Successful Speaking (1992) by Aram Bakshian.
  • The first of April, some do say
    Is set apart for All Fools' Day;
    But why the people call it so,
    Nor I, nor they themselves, do know.
    • Poor Robin's Almanac (1760), "All Fools' Day".
  • Dzień pierwszy kwietnia, tak zwany prima aprilis (prima znaczy po łacinie dzień, aprilis — bzdura), jest jedynym dniem w całym roku, kiedy pędzące ku wiośnie żywioły, myśli, słowa i zmysły obchodzą szalony, obłąkany karnawał i korzystając z tradycyjnego przywileju puszczają się na kosmiczne żarty, międzyplanetarne awantury, niespodzianki rozpętanego chaosu i tryumfującą bzdurą zadają na każdym kroku kłam ustalonemu porządkowi rzeczy!
    • Translation: The first day of April, also known as Prima Aprilis (from Latin prima, day; aprilis, humbug), is the only day of the year when elements, thoughts, words, and senses, all rushing towards springtime, observe a crazy, mad carnival and thanks to a traditional privilege abandon themselves to cosmic pranks, interplanetary riot, surprises of unleashed chaos, when at every step triumphant drivel flies in the face of the usual order of things!
    • Antoni Słonimski and Julian Tuwim, in W oparach absurdu [In the Fumes of Absurd] (in Polish), 1958.
  • The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.
    • Mark Twain, as quoted in Quick and Fun Activities for Every Day of the Year (2001) by Tim Tuck and Karen Froloff, p. 1.
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