Anthology of Black Humor Quotes

“Life’s greatest gift is the freedom it leaves you to step out of it whenever you choose.”
― André Breton, Anthology of Black Humor

“Humor (is) the process that allows one to brush reality aside when it gets too distressing.”
― André Breton, Anthology of Black Humor

“At the word witch, we imagine the horrible old crones from Macbeth. But the cruel trials witches suffered teach us the opposite. Many perished precisely because they were young and beautiful.”
― André Breton, Anthology of Black Humor

“It is more or less a given that nothing is less favorable to clairvoyance than the bright sun: physical light and mental light coexist on very poor terms.”
― André Breton, Anthology of Black Humor

“Because of the earth’s roundness, Genghis Khan, in the fever of possession and destruction, hastened his own overthrow by invading lands that he had already razed and conquered. Not only is it impossible to know from where we come, but also from whom we come: nothing in common, in any case, with those who pass for being the “authors of our days” – which days? Better to invent a genealogy based on pure whim and the leanings of our hearts, but what if they don’t agree?”
― André Breton, Anthology of Black Humor

“Of verse eternal I’ve the art. And men
Are gladdened by my voice, which speaks but truth.
The supreme reason that I proudly bear
Could not be bought for all a world of gold.

All have I touched: women, apples, fire;
All have I felt: winter, spring, and summer;
All have I found, for no wall can halt me.
But tell me, Fortune, what then is thy name?

Charles Cros, 1842–1888”
― André Breton, Anthology of Black Humor