...Other weapons might, with time and diligence, make some impression on humbug, but as Mark Twain said, "only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast." The fourth was the care with which he placed his readers, those he wanted to persuade, on his side...

...multitude of you possess that. This multitude see the comic side of a thousand low-grade and trivial things — broad incongruities, mainly; grotesqueries,...can stand. You are always fussing and fighting with other weapons. Do you ever use that one? No; you leave it lying rusting. As a race, do you ever use...

...Power, Money, Persuasion, Supplication, Persecution — these can lift at a colossal humbug, . . . weaken it a little, century by century; but only Laughter...blast. Against the assault of Laughter, nothing can stand.18 1f fear be more fundamental than compassion and if human beings fear ridicule — as the obverse...

...in The Mysterious Stranger, the human race, "for all its grotesqueries and absurdities and shams has one really effective weapon — laughter. . . . Power,...Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand" (chap. 10). The design of Huckleberry Finn is artistically sure, centered in the consciousness of Huck,...

...supplication, persecution," can stir up hostility against humbugs. But laughter alone can blow them "to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand."8 Satan speaks these lines, but he is speaking for his author. Reflections on the problematic...

...persuasion, supplication, persecution — these can lift a colossal humbug — push it a lirde — weaken it a little, century by century; but only laughter...at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing stands."* Nothing stands, not even more laughter. The aphorism "fighting fire with fire," as we shall...

...was money in a man's pocket, because it cut down on the doctor's bills like everything. [Humanity] has unquestionably one really effective weapon —...Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. Satan, in The Mysterious Stranger, ch. 10 (1916). It grieves me to think how far more profound and...

..."'Power, Money, Persuasion, Supplication, Persecution — these can lift at a colossal humbug, — push it a little, century by century: but only Laughter...blast. Against the assault of Laughter nothing can stand.'"55 Of course, it would be foolish for any comedian to admit outright such a subversive intent:...

...Persuasion, Supplication, Persecution — these can lift at a colossal humbug, — push it a little — crowd it a little, century by century: but only Laughter...Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand" (pp. 165-66). The last episode that Twain wrote (he stopped in the middle of it) takes Theodor to India...

...intended to open up smug and self-defeating minds, he also pointed out the way toward final victory: "Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution...Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." If I were to start over again I would be a Reformer . . . There would be an increasing interest in...