Wonderful quotes and sayings

Witty quotes that make you chuckle without thinking

Keyboard playerSAKI
I’ve been playing the Electone since I was six, mainly performing Disney music, anime songs, and music from dramas and films. I post performance videos on YouTube and social media, and I also give concerts. Building on my Electone experience, I took up synthesizer and piano during my student years and performed at school-sponsored events. As a writer, I’ve covered not only music-related topics but a wide range of genres, so I hope to draw on my experience to deliver articles that make readers think, “I want to try that!” or “I want to listen to that!”
10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.

Have you ever found yourself smirking when you come across a quote that cuts to the essence of life? Great figures from various fields have left us not only weighty words, but also plenty of humorous and witty quotations.

These are the lines that remind us—often with a touch of cynical laughter—of life’s truths we know in our heads but tend to forget.

In this article, we introduce entertaining quotes that capture the essence of life—ones you’ll want to share with someone.

They’re sure to enrich your outlook on life, with a little chuckle along the way.

Quotes that pierce the essence of life (11–20)

When I’m playing with a cat, perhaps it’s actually the cat that’s playing with me.Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne, a Renaissance philosopher, wrote Essays, a work that explored how humans live and had a great impact on Europe at the time.

Among the words left by this great philosopher is a remark that focuses on the difference in perspective in his relationship with his cat.

He questions the subject-centered phrasing that assumes he is the one playing with the cat, and invites us to consider what the situation looks like from the cat’s point of view.

Are we playing with the cat, or is the cat playing with us? From a familiar topic, he proposes a multifaceted way of looking at things.

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The law is a spider’s web: the big insects break through, and only the small ones get caught.Honoré de Balzac

These are words dripping with irony from the 19th-century French novelist Honoré de Balzac.

He likens the law to a spider’s web and suggests there’s a way to break through it.

You might think, “Wouldn’t small insects slip through the gaps while big ones get caught?” But what he likely meant is that large insects, even if a web stands in their way, forcefully push through and tear it apart, while smaller insects without that strength end up ensnared.

In other words, the size of the insects in this saying symbolizes the presence or absence of power.

It’s a line that captures a miniature of society itself—rich in irony and carrying a profound message.

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So it’s your birthday. I was also born on my birthday.Shinjiro Koizumi

These words offer a fresh perspective on birthdays, something everyone experiences.

At first glance, it sounds like a statement of the obvious, yet it’s actually infused with a kind of humor that puts listeners at ease.

Politicians’ remarks tend to be received as stiff, but an unexpected turn of phrase can warm the room and help relax the other party.

It’s a distinctive expression of Shinjiro Koizumi’s unique sensibility.

As words to someone celebrating a birthday, it’s an unexpected response that can spark laughter.

It’s a unique quote you can use when celebrating a special day.

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Our country has three treasures so precious that words cannot express them: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to attempt to use either of them.Mark Twain

Mark Twain, who was active as a novelist in the United States, is best known for works such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Here is a famous quote by this great writer, whose name is etched in history, that seems to express his approach to language.

Focusing on freedom of speech and freedom of conscience in America, he says that a delicate balance is maintained precisely because both are seldom used.

The words carry a touch of irony—that these important freedoms go unused—while also suggesting that the current state is a kind of miraculous equilibrium.

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At first, you drink the alcohol. Then the alcohol drinks the alcohol, and in the end, the alcohol drinks you.F. Scott Fitzgerald

We ought to keep a moderate relationship with alcohol, but perhaps many people who love to drink have had a mishap related to it at some point.

So here’s a quote I’d like to introduce—words about alcohol by F.

Scott Fitzgerald, the author known for works like The Great Gatsby.

You start out drinking alcohol, and before you know it, the alcohol is drinking you… It perfectly captures an experience many drink lovers have probably had.

Fitzgerald himself succumbed to alcohol, so these are words worth keeping in mind as a cautionary lesson.

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Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble in advance.George Washington

A quote by Washington: Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble. #Quotes #QuoteSeries #History

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble in advance. —George Washington

Watch “Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble in advance. George Washington” on YouTube

If possible, you don’t want to pay interest, right? Worry is just like that interest—something you don’t want to pay and don’t need to pay.

These words come from George Washington, the first president of the United States.

Some people can’t help but worry whenever something happens.

But is that worry really necessary right now? Worrying about things whose outcomes you don’t know can be a waste of time, since there’s no clear answer.

This quote teaches us to throw away that kind of thinking—like interest you’d rather not pay—and focus on moving forward with a positive mindset.

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Quotes that get to the essence of life (21–30)

If the question “Am I responsible for that action, or not?” comes to your mind, then you are responsible.Fyodor Dostoevsky

Here’s a kind of proverb that makes you chuckle at yourself and go, “Oh, right.” These are the words of Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Russian novelist who gave us works like Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.

I think many of us have had the experience where, faced with something that happened to us, two options naturally spring up in our mind: “I’m responsible” or “I’m not responsible.” But that “I’m not responsible” we reach for in those moments can sometimes be an escape route we’ve unconsciously prepared.

If you keep this saying in mind, you might be able to take a more third-person, objective view when you face a problem.

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